Fear
by kikiprincess
Summary: In a time when panic and fear rules the world, friendships are hard to maintain. Finding love, nearly impossible. A typical Marauder's era LilyxJames lovehate story.
1. Ch 1 Fear

Her bushy red hair was splayed awkwardly on the grass, matted with clumps of her blood leaking from her injured scalp. A large purple bruise covered the whole of her right cheek; her lips were swollen and bleeding. The girl's clothes were tattered and torn and greatly discoloured from the amount of blood dripping from her sides. James' face paled instantly as he approached her decaying body. Her empty green eyes stared up at him, showing no life. None of the usual emotion they usually displayed.

"Lily…" He whispered hoarsely.

He wanted to rush forward and cradle her body gently in his arms, but he knew it was not the correct thing to do. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest, his blood hissed violently through his ears. The dark-haired boy was certain everyone else could hear this. Instead of reacting, James stared, his face pale with fear at the sight that lay before him.

"Prongs!" A familiar voice called out, snapping James back into attention.

'_I have to make this funny somehow!'_ He thought to himself, but could think of nothing. _'What did Sirius say before?'_ James began to panic; He did not want to fail because he couldn't think of anything that could lighten the situation. _'Oh yeah...'_ The boy remembered suddenly.

Not wanting to lose his opportunity, he shouted clearly as he could manage at the moment, "Riddikulus!"

The redheaded girl instantly transformed into a clown costume, though she still lay on the ground, mortally injured. Blood seeped through the bright polka-dotted yellow costume she now wore. Arms limply clutching a handful of juggling balls. _'Damn!'_ James thought to himself as he shouted the incantation once more. This time however, the girl had rose and started juggling with the life returned to her corpse. With another shout of "Riddikulus" the strange girl had snapped and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

James dashed to the finish line, where his best friend, Sirius Black was loudly cheering him on. Peter Pettigrew stood by his side, staring in awe at what he had just accomplished.

"Thank-you, Mr. Potter. Full marks, although, I thought I had lost you on the boggart for a moment there." The extremely fragile looking witch nodded towards James with an over-exaggerated smile.

"No sweat!" James winked at his teacher and flashed his toothy smile, "Just keeping you on edge, Professor."

In reality, James had panicked. It was not what he had been expecting to see at all, and it surprised him. He had almost thought it was the real Lily lying dead on the grass. He had been preparing himself, thinking of what he was afraid of and how to change it, knowing he would come to face a boggart in this exam. Before it had started, Sirius had told him to pretend whatever it was that he saw, was naked. His more logical friend, Remus Lupin, had pointed out that it would be more frightening to see a naked thing and might disturb the watching crowd. Thus, Sirius had then suggested imagining his fear wearing a clown suit, if nothing else.

The witch smiled at her student before returning to her list to call the next student to the exam. It was a Defense Against the Dark Arts final exam for the sixth years. Each student had to travel through an obstacle course filled with various spells and creatures to move past in order to succeed. Once a student had finished the exam, they were permitted to watch the others, so long as they did not help or hinder their peers. The Marauders, of course, did not always listen to the rules.

"Thanks for saving me there, Padfoot." James smiled.

Sirius shrugged at his friend with a cocky grin, "No worries, Prongsie old chap, merely my duty as a fellow Marauder. Look," Sirius pointed towards a white-faced boy with long dark hair who was currently running towards a large pond with a Grindylow within its depths. "Snivellus is up, let's mess with him."

Although still shook up by the boggart he had encountered earlier, James nodded excitedly at this. Snivellus baiting always made one feel better. Severus had now made it past the grindylow and was advancing towards some enchanted plants.

"Peter you know the drill." Sirius whispered in the chubby boy's ear while pointing towards the teacher. "Go distract her, while me and Prongs do some damage."

The boy called Peter stared nervously at the professor and whined to his friends. "Why am I always the distraction?"

"Cause you're the best at it." James responded quickly and rolled his eyes when his friend wasn't looking. "Now go!"

The two boys watched gleefully as Peter successfully distracted the witch by asking what had gone wrong with his exam. Being a rather weak student, the Professor broke out into a long speech with specific details of where Peter had done poorly. James and Sirius rushed forward, wands out.

"Stop right there!" A shrieking female voice called out. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Both Sirius's and James's legs snapped together when the full-body binding spell hit them, but with the momentum of their running they tumbled face first into the ground. Sirius rolled onto his back spouting several crude words at his attacker. The red-headed female simply looked down at them with disgust.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, each!" She snapped.

"Are you insane girl?" Sirius groaned. "We can't afford to lose any points. There's no school left!"

James rolled over onto his back and glared. "That was uncalled for Evans! We weren't doing anything wrong!"

She rolled her eyes. "You were about to attack Severus! I saw you! Being a prefect, I could not allow that to happen."

"Prefect shmeefect!" Sirius hollered. "Besides we were just going to have a heart-to-heart, man-to-man, friend-to-friend, little chat with Snivelly. Honest!" He spoke in what he thought to be his most innocent sounding voice before flashing Lily with his swoon-worthy smile.

"I'm sure, Black." She rolled her eyes and watched Snape cross the finish line. With a flicker of her wand she removed the spell from each of them, and briskly turned back to her friends. Lily had two best friends, Kat Thompson and Melody Abbott. Kat was a very outspoken girl with blonde curls that just barely touched her narrow shoulders. Her eyes were deep brown that seemed to flash dangerously when angry. Though a petite girl, she was known for being outspoken and tough to most people, especially to the Marauders. Lily's other best friend, who was often called Melly, had black hair cut into a short pixie cut. Her eyes, however, were bright blue and were always full of joy. She was a bit on the larger side, but it did not stop her from finging the best of people, and often encouraging Lily and Kat to be nicer towards the Marauders.

Jame's watched Lily walk away before turning to Sirius and asking apprehensively, "Do you think she saw my boggart?"

"Nah, she probably had her nose jammed up in some book. And besides, if she did see, she would have been flattered in some morbid way. Girls are weird like that."

James nodded and watched as another classmate finished the obstacle course. The Professor was still having a long chat with Peter and his many mistakes, but had started actually watching at the same time. Remus Lupin had just begun the course now and both James and Sirius cheered loudly.

"Go Moony!" They chanted together as loud as they could holler.

"Hey, Padfoot!" James said suddenly with a mischievous grin.

"Prongs, we're cheering for Moony right now. Not me. Not that I mind of course. I mean, there are so many things to cheer about… My good looks, my beautiful face, my smarts, my hair, my ability to get girls…"

"Sirius!" James interrupted, "Did you see what Lily was afraid of? When she saw the boggart?"

Sirius pondered for a moment. "Nope, I got distracted."

"By what!"

"Miranda Goshawk, the seventh year Ravenclaw girl. Shame she won't be 'round next term" Sirius grinned while pulling down his collar to present a newly formed hickey. James rolled his eyes. _'Figures.'_

Remus crossed the finish line with a smile on his face, knowing he had done everything just right. Sirius whooped loudly and tackled Lupin when he approached.

"Padfoot, geroff!" He laughed, while pushing Sirius off of him.

"Let's go celebrate! End of the year drinks in Hogsmeade!" Sirius shouted.

"We still have History of Magic exam." Remus pointed out. "The year's not quite over yet."

"Bleh! Who cares about History of Magic? It should be forgotten! Just like I'm going to forget to go to the exam tomorrow!" Sirius bounded to his feet and grabbed his friend's arms and began dragging them in the direction of the old witch statue.

"Wait!" James paused. "Let's invite others."

"By other's, you must mean a certain angry, red-headed female." Sirius grinned.

Before anyone could react, over-energetic Sirius leaped over towards Lily and her friends. He wrapped his arms around Lily and Kat, pulling them into his chest.

"Dahling's!" Sirius shrieked in a horrible fake accent. "Mah, dears. You look so wondaful today, I was a hoping, that you would accompahnay my dear pahls and I to Hogsmeade."

"No!" Kat and Lily said in a calm but harsh tone, while pushing off his body and pulling his arms off them.

"We have no interest going, especially when we aren't allowed." Lily growled.

"Besides," Kat joined in, "We don't enjoy your company. Now go back to your own little world, Sirius."

"But, dahlings!" Sirius bellowed, "We are allowed. If you know the right way to get there! No one would even notice we were missing. Besides, Jamesies is loaded. He'll buy all your hearts desires."

"C'mon guys. It can't be all that bad." Melly piped in. "We're just going for drinks, right? I bet it would be fun." She stared at her friends with her large puppy-dog blue eyes.

"Mel, you can't be serious." Lily groaned.

"She can't be serious, because I'm Sirius!" He laughed loudly at his own joke, unaware that no one else joined in.

James, Remus and Peter wandered over watching the scene unfold. The two shy boys just stared and did not participate. James, however, jumped right into their conversation.

"Come on, Evans. End of the year celebration is fun for everyone. Even a know-it-all prefect like you might have a bit of fun."

Remus scowled at James. "What's so bad about being a prefect?"

"I have nothing against them." James said quickly. He grinned at Lily. "What do you say? Not scared are you?"

"Potter, I am not _afraid_ to go with you guys. I just don't _want_ to go." Lily snapped, very annoyed.

"C'mon Lils," Melody pleaded, "Just this once won't be so bad will it?"

Kat stared at her Melody with a knowing look. _'There is no way Lily would agree to that. She despises Potter.'_

"Fine." Lily grumbled.

'_What!'_ Kat's jaw dropped in shock. "Now wait just a minute…"

"To bad, my little Kitty-Kat." Sirius smirked, "Six against one, you are coming with us." He grabbed her arm and started pulling gently, leading her away.

Soon the four Marauders and the three girls had found themselves in front of the humped witch statue. The girls stared at it as though, it was nothing more than a marble figure.

"Shall you do the honours, Prongs?" Sirius said while presenting the statue with his muscular arms in a very show-girly kind of way.

"Most certaintly, kind friend… Dissendium!" James responded while tapping the statue on the head with his wand.

The statue jumped to life and the girls stood back in surprise. The boys crawled through the passage and started leading the way. The girls soon followed, despite Lily's protests that they shouldn't go further.

"How did you figure this out? I mean there must be a hundred statues in this school. Do you go around tapping your wands and saying random words on each one? And how do you remember where is what?" Melly inquired with honest curiosity as she wandered down the dark passageway.

"Now, Melly-Belly," Everyone except Melody and Sirius cringed at the nickname he had given, "We can't go around giving away all our Marauding secrets now can we?"

"We won't forget!" Peter piped in answering Melody's last question, "We made a map and recorded every secret passage way that we've found!"

"Wormtail!" The three Marauders screeched.

"Why did you tell that?" Sirius demanded.

"I-I dunno. It just kinda slipped out." Peter mumbled quietly.

"And what if something _else_ were to slip out, Peter?" Remus whispered harshly.

Peter hung his head in shame, but Kat stood to his defense.

"So he told us you made a map. Big deal! We won't tell anyone if that's what's bothering you guys." She snapped.

"It's not about the map." James said. "We're just worried that…" His sentence trailed off as he glanced at his friends. _'We can't have them knowing any other information. Like Remus being a werewolf, or us being animagus.'_

They reach the end of the tunnel and James put a finger to his mouth, indicating they needed to be quiet. Sirius was busy staring at the roof, searching for the hidden trap door. He grabbed the handle once he spotted it and opened it a crack. Light filtered through, and several voices could be heard.

"We need more of those acid pops. The bin is almost empty."

"Coming!" A different voice responded as they headed up the cellar steps carrying a large cardboard box.

"We're under Honeydukes?" Lily whispered in a frightened tone. "We could get in trouble!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Prongs, give the scared ones the cloak."

James nodded and pulled something shiny out from the inside of his robes. He motioned for the girls to get close together and then covered them with his invisibility cloak. Melody's size didn't allow for much room between the girls without their feet showing at the bottom. They had to shuffle in an awkward way to not be seen.

"This is so cool, but it's not going to work." Melody grumbled.

"I'll get out. I'm not afraid of getting in trouble." Kat hesitated before slipping out from under the cloak.

The four boys were already in the cellar room waiting for the girls to come up. Sirius bent down to the trap door and offered his hand to Kat.

"Come on Kitty, I'll help you up." He said with a sly grin.

Kat ignored his offer and his words and pulled herself up through the door. Lily and Melody went through separately and then re-covered themselves with the cloak once in the cellar.

"It will be less suspicious if we go one at a time. They probably won't notice us if it's crowed." Remus pointed out. "And from the sounds of it, we'll be fine."

Sirius went first, followed by James, the two cloaked girls, Peter, and finally Remus. Soon they were all comfortably seated in a Three Broomsticks booth. The girls all relaxed immeadiately.

"Wow you girls sure aren't very adventurous if _that_ was frightening." Sirius laughed.

"Hey!" Kat grumbled. "We weren't frightened. We didn't even ask _once_ where the path lead. Nor, did we turn back."

"Wormtail, go get some drinks for us." Sirius commanded his friend.

"I got them last time, Padfoot. Maybe _you _should for once…"

James shrugged, "I'll get them."

"Alright Prongs! Paying for them too, I hope."

James scowled at his free-loading friends, but nodded anyways. "Seven butterbeers? I might have to make more than one trip."

"To the bank or to the counter?" Sirius replied happily, knowing he wouldn't have to shell out any of his saving money.

James rolled his eyes and walked to the front of the bar. Lily stared at the Marauders with disbelief. _'How did I end up here, of all places? Sure, I had prefect duty with Remus, but I know nothing about these guys except for the fact that I don't like them. Well, I don't really know about Peter, and Remus is nice. But Potter and Sirius? Ugh.'_

"Admiring my good looks, Evans?" Sirius batted his eyelashes. "It's not polite to stare. Although in my case, I can understand why."

Lily blushed and looked down at the table. Everyone had turned to stare at her.

"Actually," She responded looking back up, "I was just wondering…What's with the weird nicknames? I mean, Prongs, Padfoot, Worrmtail, Moony? What do they all mean?"

Remus's face paled slightly and he glanced at Peter, who was covering his mouth with both hands as a precaution. Sirius just grinned in a mischevious manner.

"Well!" Sirius began, "They each have to do with a part of our childhood. See Remus over here, or rather, Moony, had a bad habit, as a child of course, of bearing his wee little bottom to strangers, giving them the affect of a full moon. Although, he doesn't do it as often anymore, if you ask nicely, I'm sure he will kindly bear his behind."

Remus looked shocked and slightly appalled at his friend. The girls stared at him unblinking and he felt a blush rise to his cheeks. _'I'm going to kill Sirius later. But I can't deny it, because I can't think of any reason why they should call me Moony other than…'_

"Er… James is back with the drinks." Remus changed the subject and started staring out the window.

James set down four of the drinks. One which Sirius immediately grabbed, and the other three went to Melody, Kat and Remus who used it as a way to avoid talking.

"I'll be right back with the others!"

James returned as quickly as he stated with the three remaining drinks. He approached the booth with a smile on his face. He was actually sharing an afternoon with the Lily Evans. He had been dying for an opportunity like this for ages. Even though both of their friends were there, James felt a desire to impress. _'Must not screw up…Must not screw up.' _He repeated in his mind. Concentrating on not messing up, James did not notice an old girlfriend approaching fast. Just as James was about to hand Lily her drink, the girl bumped into him, hoping to attract his attention. Butterbeer shot forward, slipping through James's hand. The first mug splashed Lily in her face, while the remaining contents of the other drinks poured onto her lap.

"Oh, bloody hell." Sirius whispered.

Lily remained calm. At least she did until it registered in her mind what had just occurred. She had not seen the girl, and so saw no reason for the butterbeer to be dumped all over her. She clenched her teeth trying to refrain from screaming at him inside the pub. Instead, she rose from the table with yellowish liquid dripping from her clothes, and walked past the white-faced James, gave him a menacing glare, and went out the door. James exhaled loudly and dashed off after the red-headed girl.

"Wow…" Kat murmured, breaking the silence of the table. "I thought she would have exploded."

"She probably will…Look." Remus pointed out the window. James had caught up to the angry Lily and was confronting her.

-------------

"Lily, Wait!" James pleaded latching onto her tense arm. "It was an accident."

"I'm sure it was!" She snapped. "Just like when you _accidentally _dropped dungbombs in my book bag, or when you _accidentally_ tortured other students. Or _accidentally _played with all those girls emotions and then _accidentally _dumped them. Or all the other times you said something was an _accident_."

"It really was, though. See there was…" James began, but Lily interrupted.

"I don't care, Potter! You tricked me. You humiliated me in front of my friends. I thought we were actually there to have a good time. What a fool I was!"

"But…"

"Who do you think you are? All these times you were asking me out, Mel thought you were sincere, but I knew better! You're nothing but a big-headed, arrogant jerk with ugly hair!"

"If you would _just_ listen for thirty seconds..." James exasperated.

"No! I'm tired of your lame excuses Potter. _You_ are a _poor_ excuse for a human being! Why do think you are so above others that you can hurt them? You are worse than those Slytherins who care about blood-types. At least they know they treat others badly." Lily's eyes were tearing up, but she would not allow herself to cry in front of _him._

"Shut-up for a minute Evans! Someone bumped into me and I spilled the drinks!"

"So what! You are a chaser and you manage to hold on to the quaffle despite being knocked around by other players. Why is this any different? Oh, yeah. Because you are a self-centered _asshole_, who can't even take responsibility for his own actions!"

James fumed with clenched teeth, "That's because…"

"Just shut-up! I hate you!" Lily screamed. "I hate you!"

"Evans! You are a fucking bitch!" James blurted.

Lily looked as though James had slapped her across the face. No one had ever called her something like that before. She narrowed her emerald eyes into a menacing glare. Her face was bright red with rage.

"Go to hell!" She spat at him before turning around and stalking away.

James threw his hands to his head in frustration and left a few moments later.

-------------

"Oh, Prongs …" Sirius mumbled shaking his head.

All the others at the table were staring at him.

"What happened?" Kat inquired.

"Well, using my immaculate lip reading skills, I've determined that…" Sirius closed his eyes for dramatic effect. "James called Lily an effin' bit and then she left."

"A bit?" Mel asked slightly confused.

"Oh Melly, think about it." Kat snapped. "Come on, we're leaving…we have to go talk to her." She added, glancing apologetically at the three boys."

Melody nodded. "Erm…see you around." She said before joining Kat outside.

"Since, James is gone, who is gonna pay?" Peter asked suddenly.

Remus shook his head and looked down at his second hand robes. "None of this was my idea. Besides, I can't waste money like that."

"I'm saving to buy a place of my own, so I can leave that hell-hole once and for all." Sirius added gloomily.

Peter glanced down into his money-bag. "Fine…" _'Shouldn't have brought it up'._ He thought sadly as he shelled out his remaining galleons. The remaining Marauder's rose to leave.

"So much for celebrating." Sirius grumbled.


	2. Ch 2 School's Out

The train ride home was the most depressing one yet for the Marauders. Even worse than the time they were forbidden to sit in the same compartment as each other. James sat weary eyed, looking at the floor. He would hardly present a fake laugh at some of Sirius's best material. It was also horrible for Kat and Melody. They had to listen the whole way home to the angry ranting of Lily. If either of them tried to defend James at all, she would get angry with them. They soon learned that saying nothing was their best option.

"Prongs…" Sirius poked James hard on the shoulder, "You really need to let go. Move on from Lily. I mean…maybe go after some other girls."

'_Maybe he's right. I have been pining for Lily since fourth year. I'll be in seventh at the end of the summer. If she won't give me the time of the day then maybe we aren't meant for each other at all.'_ James sat up a little straighter, but did not offer a response to his friend. Sirius just shrugged at Remus, unsure what else to do. They started on a new subject, but James wasn't listening. _'I have to de-Lily-tize myself. This summer is a perfect opportunity for that. I'll date new girls. I'll find someone better…Is there anyone better?'_

Near the end of the trip, James announced, "You know what…you guys are right. From now on, I will not care about Lily. I will find some other girl."

"Alright!" Sirius cheered. "You aren't as dead as I thought! I can introduce you to some of my old gals."

"I don't think James really wants your rejects, Padfoot." Remus said.

"I do!" Peter said eagerly. "I haven't had a girlfriend since…"

"Ever?" Sirius filled in.

James laughed. It felt good not to care and just enjoy this time with his friends. _'I wonder what she's doing now…'_ He thought, but then quickly made a mental note to not think about her.

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"Lily!" Kat interrupted finally after a lonnnng rant about Potter's many faults. "He can't be all bad. I mean," She added quickly seeing the look on Lily's face, "He must care about you a lot for you to be his biggest fear."

"Tell me...how exactly is _me_ being his biggest fear, flattering?" Lily snarled.

"No, no. Didn't you see what his boggart turned into at the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam?" Mel corrected.

"No, why would I bother?" Lily frowned.

"Because, his boggart turned into you! A dead version of you!" Kat finished off.

Lily looked surprised, but quickly scowled. "So what…."

"So! He obviously cares a lot more than you give him credit."

"He just wants me because I don't want him. It was probably a fake fear that he just made seem strong to try and impress me." Lily's logic seemed to make perfect sense to her, but why couldn't her friends see it?

-------------

The Hogwarts express came to a slow halt at platform 9¾. Students filed off the train, and everyone began waving goodbye ad hugging a lot more than necessary. Lily waved goodbye to her friends, before any one else had a chance tosee her off. She waved eagerly to her awaiting mother, and was slightly disappointed to see that her sister had not bothered to show up.

Kat had some time to say goodbye to some other students before spotting her dad. She gave a weak smile at the man who raised her. They weren't very close, but they got a long alright. Melody was one of those who liked to hug everybody goodbye. Even if she didn't really like the person. After twenty minutes of excessive hugging, Mel walked through the barrier to go meet up with her muggle parents.

Peter dashed off before any of the Marauders had a chance to say goodbye. The three remaining boys stood in a clump glancing around the station for their parents. Several girls giggled and glanced at them hopefully as they walked by the Marauders. Several did little hair flips, and swayed their hips more than natural. Sirius gawked, and James pretended to be interested, but his heart wasn't really in the mood. Remus just rolled his eyes at his friends' antics.

"There's my dad." Remus said pointing to a shabbily dressed man amongst the crowd. "I'll see you guys over the summer, right?"

They nodded and waved goodbye. James spotted his parents, but didn't leave his friend's side.

"You don't have to wait with me…" Sirius grumbled.

James shrugged, "Too bad, Padfoot, I'm staying. Besides, your parents just happen to love me!" He added in a very sarcastic tone.

"Yeah well, you are a blood traitor, Prongsie! What do you really expect? A Black and a Potter just don't mix." Sirius laughed.

"Does this mean the wedding's off?" James asked in a sarcastic sad tone.

Mrs. Potter spotted the two boys, and jogged right up to them. "Sirius! So nice to see you! You know, you're always welcome in our home, honey." She added with an affectionate wink. She grabbed James's trunk and stared expectantly at the young men.

Sirius just smiled at James's mother. He liked them so much better than his own. The Potters were an older couple, and had James much later than most families did. Thus, James was an only child. Growing up James had been spoiled with expensive toys and trips to fantastic places, but his parents had always tried to keep him from being a snobby brat. However, as a child, James often did not see his parents as they were once skilled aurors, who were always in demand. As they got older, they became less valuable to the force and now remained only as auror trainers. To Sirius, the Potters were the family he never hated.

"You better go, James. Don't worry about me. I've lived _there_ my whole life. I can handle it." Sirius said.

James stared at his friend questioning his opinion, but then shrugged and turned to leave. Mrs. Potter waved goodbye, and reminded Sirius to drop by at anytime. Sirius smiled and watched their figures leave through the barrier. Then Sirius waited.

And waited…

And waited.

The station was now almost empty, but there was no sign of the Blacks. _'Maybe they're on the other side of the barrier?'_ Sirius grumbled to himself as he picked up his trunk to leave. He walked through the barrier separating the muggle platforms, from the wizarding platform. He looked around, but still no sign of his family. _'Great,'_ He thought, _'I've probably been blasted off the family tree after all these years of being a blood-traitor son.'_ Sirius knew he didn't have enough money to purchase his own place yet, and he certainly didn't want to go home where he was unwanted. He knew exactly where he should go.

-------------

James had just sat down at the kitchen counter to enjoy his dinner, when a familiar voice rang out.

"Hello? Anyone home?"

James looked slightly surprised to see his friend crawling out of the living room fireplace. Neither of his parents would be home that evening, as they had 'important Ministry business'. James rose from his chair and bounded over to help Sirius with his trunk.

"Er...hi?" James peered at Sirius questioningly.

"They didn't come." He answered to the unasked question. "And, I'm never going back. Mind if I stay for a while?"

James grinned. "This is great, you should have done this years ago! You can have your usual room. Hungry?" He pointed to the kitchen.

"Do you really need to ask?"

-------------

"It's good to be home." Lily gave a sigh of relief and then smiled at her mother. "Um…where is Petunia?"

Her mother frowned slightly, "She's at her boyfriend's house. Vernon is his name. Despicable boy, but Petunia seems to like him quite a lot."

Lily was surprised to hear her mother disliking someone, but was happy to know that Petunia was finally seeing someone.

"What about you dear? Anyone new in your life?" Her mother probed anxiously.

Lily blushed, although there was no reason for it. "No…"

"What about that nice prefect? Remus, I think you said his name was."

"He's just a friend."

"For now…"

"Mum!" Lily's blush darkened. "I don't like him that way. Besides he's friends with P…"

"Who dear?"

"Ugh, let's just forget about this. I need a nice nap." Lily avoided saying his name and headed off to her room before her mother could ask anymore.

She didn't really feel sleepy, so Lily lay on her single bed and stared at the blank ceiling. _'Just thinking of Potter makes me want to strangle something. No…Just strangle him!'_ She giggled to herself. _'Why does Melly insist that he is a "nice guy". Even Kat started defending him on the train. Am I really missing something? He is always showing off, and he always picks on Snape. I feel bad for Severus. Even though he's called me a mudblood on occasion, he's really smart and he seems to have no friends. Maybe I'll try to be nicer to him next year. That ought to really bug Potter…'_ Lily soon found herself to be drifting off to sleep. _'Maybe I am tired afterall…'_

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	3. Ch 3 September

"POTTER SCORES! Listen to that crowd chant. POT-TER! POT-TER!"

"Oh get over yourself, you prat, I'm not that far behind." Sirius smirked as he chucked the quaffle as his friend's sweaty head.

James caught the ball with one hand and landed his nimbus gracefully on the grass. They had been playing quidditch for several hours, almost every day since the start of summer. The boys loved the sport, and although it was just the two of them, they tested and strengthened their skills. It nearing one now and the sun seemed to be beaming down harder than usual.

"I have to say padfoot, we'll be the stars of Gryffindor this year." James grinned wiping a sweaty brow with his nicely tanned arm.

"Aren't we already? Well, maybe not you, but I sure the heck am." Sirius pondered for a moment. "I wonder if there will be any hot girls this year."

"Ew, Sirius, the first years are like twelve years old you pedophile. That's a five year difference." James shook his head with laughter

"James!" a motherly voice called from a window. "There's a letter for you. It's from Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" the teen questioned, "why are they writing now, it's a little early. Only start of August."

"Perhaps they finally realized the truth. You're too much of a big-headed, git to attend their school." Sirius joked.

"You're one to talk. You have a bigger ego than Peter's stomach."

"Hey he lost weight over the summer. Haven't you noticed? He was able to keep up. Mind you, your team still lost when he was on it. Not much of a quidditch player, is he?"

James shrugged and opened the patio door, revealing a large marble kitchen before him. It was a beautiful room, just like the rest of his large mansion; little décor, but a lot of class. James picked up the white envelop from atop a chestnut dining table. It was sealed with the Hogwarts shield and slightly heavy as if something was in it. Shrugging, he ripped the top open, using the end of his wand. His eyes skimmed quickly over the letter growing wider with each sentence.

"What!" The black-haired boy exclaimed. He tipped the opened envelop sideways to allow a shiny silver badge to fall out.

"Prefect?" Sirius roared with laughter. "They made _you_ a prefect."

"Nope." James grinned as his mother walked in, a curious expression written across her face. "Head Boy."

"OH JAMES!" Mrs. Potter squealed with delight as she crushed her son into a smothering hug. "I'm so proud of you! Wait until your father hears!"

Sirius laughed even harder. "Dumbledore's gone mad. If any marauder was to be Head Boy, I would have picked Remus."

"Come on boys, time to celebrate!"

------------

Mrs. Potter had taken both Sirius and James to Diagon Alley, buying anything and everything they seemed slightly intrigued with. Sporting new Quidditch jerseys, a handful of new robes, and loads of pranking goods, they were ready to return home.

"Ahhh, what a day! Thanks Mrs. Potter." Sirius yawned happily.

"No, dear, the pleasure is all mine. It's not every day you find out one of your sons is Head boy!"

Sirius caught James eye, slightly embarrassed that Mrs. Potter had referred to him as her son. He smiled happily, sinking into the loving feeling that the Potter family gave him. It was something that had once seemed alien to him, but now he welcomed it with open arms.

Suddenly, a scream echoed loudly from down the road. More soon followed. Panic rose around the group as people struggled to hide or figure out what the commotion was all about. A girl not much younger than the boys ran forward, tears streaming down her face.

"What's happening?" Mrs. Potter asked worriedly.

"There's been another attack!" Someone screamed, as if to answer her question. "Quick! Run before they return!"

An attack could only mean one thing; death eaters. Recently their numbers had been growing and the casualties of muggle-born, half-blood and even pure blood 'traitors' were being killed. No one was safe in the world anymore. No one, only those under the leadership of Lord Voldermort seemed unharmed. Even then, death eaters were occasionally caught by the aurors, but they were usually soon released if they gave any names.

"Let's go!" Mrs. Potter hustled the boys quickly, and they followed without hesitation.

They would take the long way home. Floo powder network was not safe. Wizards would be rushing to get home and the system would get clogged, resulting in misplaced destinations, or even worse, someone could attack you from within. They rushed down road. Panic rising all around. The screams were getting louder as they approached their neighbourhood. Worried expressions were etched deeply across their faces. And then they saw it. High above in the sky, a rotating skull with serpents slithering through the eyes; it was the Dark Mark.

And it was floating above James's house.

-------------------------------

"Eeeeeeeeeeek!" The shrill screaming of Petunia woke Lily with a start.

The door to Lily's bedroom burst open with a raving Petunia holding an envelope in her hand. "Sister!" She screeched, "One of those ruddy owls just flew through the window and dropped _this_ in my cereal!"

"Gnhh…" Lily groaned, covering her head with the pillow, "Bright…"

"Are you listening to me!" She shrieked again.

"Yuh-huh," Lily mumbled, hardly awake. "Loud and clear."

"Why, do you have _those people_ write to you _this_ way! I thought you knew I was afraid of birds!"

"_Those_ _people_ are my friends, Petunia, and I'm one of them. They don't have the same kind of mailing system." Lily snapped finally awake.

"I've noticed!"

"Look, you don't have to like it, just learn to deal with it. Okay? Now pass me my letter please…" Lily asked in a calm manner.

Petunia scowled and tossed the slightly soggy mail onto the end of Lily's bed before leaving the room. Lily reached over and picked it up gently. She looked over the envelope, it was from Hogwarts. _'It's a little early for the booklists to be here._' Lily thought to herself, a little confused. She glanced over and clicked on her bedside lap, before ripping open the edge of the sopping mail. She pushed a tangled lock of red-hair out of her eyes, and began to study the letter.

"Oh my God…" Lily breathed.

_Dear Miss Lily Evans,_

_We are pleased to inform and congratulate you on becoming _

_Hogwarts Head Girl for the following term. Enclosed is your_

_honorary Head Girl badge. We hope you wear it with pride._

_You have been selected based on your school performance _

_over the past years. Please meet with the Head Boy at twelve-_

_front compartment of the Hogwarts express. You will be_

_ssing prefect patrolling schedules as well as distributing_

_o each house prefects. We are pleased to inform_ _you, that _

_new Head Boy duty, your partner for the year, will be _

_er. Once again congratulations on this_ _new _

_lity. _

_ely,_

_mbledore._

Each night before Lily went to sleep she would read over the letter that made her so happy. However, some parts of her letter were smudged or unreadable due to the milk from Petunia's morning cereal. At night she would try to decipher what the missing parts were, so that she could understand the instructions better. She would write over top of the messy letter with pencil, trying to place words that made sense.

"I'm not sure about the time," Lily mumbled quietly to herself, "So I'll just show up at twelve. The next part must be…We will be discussing? That sounds right."

Soon Lily reached the part with the name. She tried hard to think of all the people whose first name or last name ended up with 'er'. _'It must be part of the last name. It only makes sense.'_ Lily thought. She grabbed a separate piece of parchment and began writing down all the last names of people from Hogwarts ending with 'er'. _'Let's see…There's Potter...urgh cross that one off. Fletcher… hah! As if Mundungus would ever be Head Boy, he's such a thief.'_ After crossing off most names from her list, she narrowed it down to Christopher Clearwater from Ravenclaw and Marcus Towler from Hufflepuff. Satisfied with her selections, she set her letter aside for another night.

-------------

"Oh Lils! That's so wonderful!" Melody shouted happily wrapping her arms around her friend in a tight hug, once Lily had spread the news.

Melody had been vacationing in Japan, with her muggle family, over the summer and so Lily had been unable to contact her until they met at the train platform. Kat already knew but was excited for Lily just the same. Kat, however, noticed the time, and suggested Lily go to the front compartment soon. Lily nodded, she was eager to see if see was correct in her careful deductions. The front compartment was empty, just as Lily had expected it to be. There were obviously a number of minutes after twelve she would have to wait, judging from the wording of the letter. The red-headed girl didn't mind, she had her new textbooks to read through.

Fifteen-or-so minutes later, Lily heard the compartment door slide open. She glanced up, and nearly threw up.

"P-Potter?" She groaned.

James raised one eyebrow giving Lily a confused stare. "Who else were you expecting? It's in the letter…"

"Fell in the cereal…couldn't read parts…" Lily mumbled.

James gave a weak grin. "Guess we're stuck together, huh?"

Lily glared and shrugged. "So what is it that we have to do exactly? I couldn't read that part."

"Make patrolling schedules for all the prefects, and give the passwords out." James was clutching a piece of paper in his hand. Lily assumed it had a list of the passwords and the new prefects.

"Fine. I'll make the schedule, you go tell the passwords. Is that all?"

"Guess so…" James turned to leave the compartment but then turned around and handed her the sheet, "Here…it's the names of all the prefects."

Lily was once again by herself. _'Has Dumbledore gone insane? Why would he make that creep Head Boy? He commits to nothing, he takes nothing seriously, and he's always causing trouble!'_


	4. Ch 4 Overreact

Author notes: Thanks Sapphire for your review comments. . Hopefully I will be able to update more often now that I'm finished moving.

* * *

Lily quickly finished off the prefect schedule, and was ready to return to her friends. Unfortunately, Lily didn't get to decide who patrolled with who, only made the hours, resulting with her having to spend hours wandering the hallways with _'Potter…' _Lily groaned_, 'Ugh, this is going to be a fun year. With NEWTS and Head Girl duties, Potter is enough to send me over the edge.'_

The red-head made her way slowly down the train, glancing through the compartment windows, looking for the familiar faces of her friends. Spotting Kat's golden curls, she opened the door. "Ugh, of all people, why Potter?" She announced coldly. "He is such a jerk. 'I guess we're stuck with each other then…'" she mimicked.

"It kinda sounds like he wasn't too thrilled with you being Head Girl, there Lils." Kat shrugged. "Maybe he's over you."

"Over me? What are you going on about?" Lily raised her eyebrows sceptically as she plopped herself down beside Mel. "All he cares about is himself. He only wanted to date me because I wouldn't."

With a light tap on the door, the compartment door slid open and the faces of the four marauders appeared.

"Mind if we join you?" Remus asked politely, "Some first years joined us and asked about a billion,"

"and one" Sirius added.

"questions. It was a tad annoying."

Kat scowled but switched sides so she could sit beside her friends, as the four boys took a seat. James sat near the window, not even taking a passing glance at Lily. She raised her eyebrows in surprise but didn't say anything. Sirius sat on the opposite end of James and the two remaining marauders squished in between. There was a brief awkward silence between the two groups before Sirius started up a conversation.

"James is something wrong?" Melody asked a few minutes later, noticing the unnatural silence radiating form him.

"Hm?…Oh I'm fine." He responded solemnly before returning back to the window.

'_Is this because of me?'_ Lily shrugged in question as her two friends glanced at her. _'Perhaps I was a tad harsh at the end of the last summer. But he did call me a bitch.'_

"Ah, " Remus cleared his throat, at a weak attempt of changing the subject. "Congrats of getting Head Girl Lily. That's quite an achievement."

------------

The train ride rolled on, seemingly slower than usual. The girls couldn't quite figure out why, but the marauders were not their cheery selves. Sirius cracked only one joke per hour instead of his one per second. Their laughter all seemed very canned and forced, and they tended to sigh quite a bit more than usual. The girls never realized how much they enjoyed the boys' silly antics until they stopped.

Soon the screech of the train brakes being put on sounded throughout the machine. Lurching, the train came to a halt. Students quickly filed off, and just before Lily was about to do the same, James caught her arm.

"Hey Evans, don't go skipping your Head Girl duties before the term even starts!" He grinned.

"Huh?" She questioned, surprised at his sudden mood change.

"We have to check to be sure everyone gets off okay, and all the first years make it to the school."

"Oh right. Let go, Potter." She brushed off his arm roughly.

They started in the back of the train. They opened each compartment to make sure it was empty and looked under every seat to make sure nothing was left behind. They would have a hard time returning some of the items to their owners, as they were something any student may own, but others, like wands, would surely be missed.

"I bet first years were in here." James laughed as he found a misplaced wand. "They're pretty stupid to lose their wands so quickly."

"They are probably just not used to it." Lily scowled.

"Probably muggle-born" James mumbled.

"What did just say?" Lily snapped. "So muggle-born are stupider than pure-bloods…that's what I'm gathering. I can't believe you said that! You're acting like a death eater."

A dark look came across James face, as he pointed the lost wand directly between Lily's green eyes. "If they are muggle-born," he started off slowly, "then they aren't used to carrying wands. Therefore, they would more likely forget them. If you ever, ever, compare me to a death eater, ever again, I…"

"You'll do what, Potter?" Lily hissed. '_Well isn't this a nice way to start off the term.'_

James sighed and lowered the wand in defeat. He was about to open his mouth, perhaps to tell her off, or maybe even apologize, but Lily cut him off.

"You are such an ass Potter! Threatening me? What the hell is wrong with you anyways? You can finish checking the bloody train yourself." She stormed off.

"Evans! Wait, don't go off by yourself, it's dangerous."

"Safer than being with you."

"No! We could be attacked if we separate."

"I could only hope." She took one backwards glance at him, her eyes flashing dangerously.

Lily bounded off the train, billowing with anger. The few remaining students were getting into a carriage, and she quickly joined a group of second year Ravenclaws. '_I can't believe him. One second he's threatening me, the next he's worrying. What a psychopath!'_ The girls in the carriage glanced at her warily, afraid to speak to her, for her scowl was so deeply etched upon her face.

-----

"James stop being such a jerk." The boy scolded aloud to himself as he finished checking the front compartments. '_Acting this way won't change what happened over the summer. So just forget about it! Lily must hate me even more now. I'll apologize later…So much for my plan to get over her.' _With a cloud full of debating thoughts, James did not notice that he was being watched. Nor did he notice when a black hooded figure stepped out and muttered an incantation.

"Incarcerous**_"_**

Thick black ropes sprouted out from the tip of the wand and flew towards James. The black-haired teen turned around suddenly as he heard the whizzing of a spell coming from behind. Caught off balance, he fell to his knees as the thick rope bound his body tightly, so that he could barely breathe, let alone move. He struggled briefly, and expression of anger, not fear, in his eyes. Two more figures circled around. A deep hollow laughter resided from them.

"Well if it isn't the _famous_ James Potter!" A familiar female voice cackled.

"Bellatrix!" James cursed.

"Crucio!" She muttered. "You do not have the honour to speak that name, you filthy blood-traitor."

"AGHHH!" James released a blood-curdling shriek as the riveting pain slammed into his body, causing massive spasm through every muscle. The pain was never-ending, it would not stop. He had never felt so much pain in his whole life. He thought his brain might explode at any moment. '_Please stop.'_ He begged through the tears that developed in his buldging eyes.

Bellatrix waved off the spell and grabbed James' jaw with her hand. "We're going to have fun, aren't we?" She moved his limp head up and down, as if he was answering 'yes'.

--------------

'_Where is he?'_ Lily fumed, '_It doesn't take that god-damned long to check a train. The feast is about to start. He's probably going to try and embarrass me for ditching.'_

Sirius seemed to be thinking the same thing as he leaned over to Lily and whispered, "Did you guys fight again?"

She nodded briskly and turned to watch as the last of the sorting ended. She had already told her friends the story, and Melody was quickly repeating it to Remus. Those two were like the link between the two groups. Although, Lily had started noticing that Kat seemed to enjoy the marauders company. '_Whatever'._ She shrugged to herself. _'I vow to not think about him more than I have to. Starting this very moment.'_

Dumbledore rose to his podium with a sad smile, the crowd instantly hushed over. "Greetings once again, and welcome to those who are new. It is time to start a new term, and although many of us have lost some we love, we must move forward with our lives. Remember that your are always safe at H..."

Dumbledore paused mid-sentence as the doors of the Great Hall were being opened. A figure stumbled through. Thick red blood poured down the sides of his face, matting his jet-black hair into thick clumps, and covering his eyes like a waterfall. His sides were gashed, and his robes sliced to reveal more wounds leaking slowly. As he stood in the entrance way, a small red pool formed at his feet. A deep red rope burn radiated across his wrist as he raised his sleeveless arm in a small, pathetic wave.

"S-sorry I'm late…"James moaned, grinning stupidlyas he slumped unconsciously to the ground.


	5. Ch 5 Prongs

Author's Note: Don't forget to review!

* * *

For a brief moment in time, there was silence throughout the Great Hall. Soon panic arose and people were scrambling to either get away, or get a closer look at the unconscious, or dead, as some people thought, Head Boy. Lily's emerald eyes grew wide with shock. '_Oh my god, what have I done?'_ Tears swelled up in her eyes as she rushed over to James, along side the three marauders and her two best friends.

"Step back." Dumbledore said calmly as the crowd swarmed like vultures.

He flicked his wand and soon, James was floating upon an invisible stretcher. He glanced at Lily, with a searching look in his eyes. Lily felt deep shame and couldn't bear to look at the headmaster. James had told them not to separate. '_I didn't think there would be attacks here.'_ Dumbledore nodded slowly to Sirius, who asked if they could come. Lily, although not asked, followed anyways. The group quickly reached the hospital wing.

"Poppy, I need you to care for Mr. Potter, while I return to address the students. I will return once the feast has started." Dumbledore bowed slightly, causing the witch to blush slightly.

Madame Pomfrey scowled as she noticed the crowd of people standing around. "Only two of you can stay, there's too many."

The group glanced among each other. Kat and Melody both slipped out, followed by Peter. Remus nodded to Lily and departed as well.

"Oh Sirius, " Lily cried leaning on him, "I feel horrible."

"Not as bad as Prongsie, I bet." He said with a wink. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. It would take Voldemort himself to take this guy down."

Lily winced slightly at hearing the 'forbidden' name mentioned, but shrugged it off as she sat in a chair beside James. He looked so pitiful lying there dripping with blood. Several minutes passed, and finally, James' eyes fluttered. Groggily, the bloodied boy awoke. '_The room is fuzzy.' _He rolled painfully onto his side, as the two visitors came more clearly into focus. _'Lily?'_ His head was pounding and aching terribly, and he was having trouble remembering why he was in the hospital. Madame Pomfrey was hovering over him busy fussing over his wounds and mending them with her wand.

"What the bloody hell, happened?" He groaned softly.

"You were in a fight, mate." Sirius offered.

"Did I win?" A confused James questioned.

Lily cracked a weak smile, as Sirius rolled his eyes laughing. "Well, you're alive, so I think that could count as winning." A warm voice answered.

Dumbledore had returned, a gentle smile buried beneath his silver beard. Pulling up a chair, magically, the headmaster took a seat beside the two students. "Now, Mr. Potter, do you think you remember the events which just occurred?"

"Uh…well…" James thought hard. "I was leaving the train…"

"Alone?" Dumbledore questioned.

An ashamed Lily stared at her feet, colour rising to her cheeks. "It's my fault." She murmured.

"No it's not." James added quickly, glancing at Dumbledore. "I told her to leave because I thought it was pointless to have two of us check the entire train."

Dumbledore chuckled slightly a twinkle in his eye, "Don't worry about blame. No one in this room is at fault. The only culprit is the attacker. Please continue your story; I just want to know the details."

"Righto." James grinned, feeling a little more awake. "Anyways, I was walking towards the horseless carriages, when someone used a rope-binding spell. I was too busy thinking about…er…" He glanced at Lily, "other things, that I didn't notice them. Then they, well the three of 'em, started attacking me. The train conductor spotted what was happening, but being a squib, he didn't want to intervene. He bluffed and called out to the death eaters, telling them the aurors were on the way. As soon as they heard this they fled. I don't really remember much else."

"What spells did they use, if you can remember?"

James hesitated slightly, "Sectumsempra and also the Cruciatus Curse."

Lily gasped slightly, although she had never heard of Sectumsempra, she of course knew about the unforgivable curses. Sirius growled while Dumbledore shook his head.

"Alas, I must apologize to you, James. I never thought something like this would happen." Spotting Lily's confused stare, "Sectumsempra is the cutting curse. Newly developed, and being tested around through the death eaters' wands. Not a pleasant spell, not at all. Now if you please Miss Evans, I'd like to have a word."

"But, she didn't do anything wrong!" James burst.

Dumbledore smiled, "Relax Mr. Potter, or Madame Pomfrey will have me thrown out. I merely wanted to discuss the perks and responsibilities of being Head Girl. Since you are to be detained here, I imagine Miss Evans can fill you in on the details at a later date."

Lily gulped nervously, but followed behind the headmaster as he exited from the bedside. James sighed and ruffled his hair weakly.

"Nice entrance, by the way, Prongs." Sirius joked as he stood to leave. "You're a joker even near death. Anyways, I have some girls to console. You'd be surprised how many started crying."

"Console away, my friend. Though, I think it was the fear of death eaters rather than my pain." James grinned.

"Who cares what the reason?" Sirius joked. "Anyways, mate, get some sleep."

--------------

Light filtered through the hospital wing windows, easing a sleeping James into consciousness. _'Pain',_ his thoughts immediately registered. He rolled awkwardly onto his side. James groaned; his joints felt stiff, like they had never been used.

"Oh good, you're awake." Madam Pomfrey bristled happily.

"I'm not awake yet." James mumbled, not wanting to leave the warm blankets.

The nurse smiled, but was still forceful. "Dumbledore has excused you from classes this morning. Eat some breakfast, and do something with your presents. They are taking up too much room."

'_Presents?'_ For the first time that morning, James noticed the colourful packages adorning his bedside. '_Presents!'_ He eagerly grabbed the package nearest. '_From Chloe?'_ He read, _'Well, Chloe, let's see what you got me. Hmmm, Bertie bots beans…. Boring!' _He tossed the package aside, and proceeded with the next gift. He received an assortment of candies and many cards wishing him a 'get well soon'. It wasn't until he read '_From Lily Evans'_, that he stopped with senseless paper ripping. His heart thudded, nervously as he opened the envelope of the card.

_James,_

_I feel horrible about what happened. I'm sorry I left.  
I'm sorry for the nasty things I said, too. Dumbledore  
showed me this amazing study area we get to use, as a  
privilege of being Head Boy and Girl. That's not all!  
When you get out of the hospital wing, I can show you  
what other things we get to use. Though, you probably  
already know…Since you have a map of the school…  
I'd really like to see it sometime! Get well soon,_

_Lily_

James re-read the letter several times, and laughed, "She's more excited about a dumb study area than anything else!" Grinning, he opened the small package that was attached to the note. Inside, was his badge. '_My badge?' _the black-haired teen had not even realized it was missing. _'It's so like Lily to be so school-oriented. No sweets, just a reminder of my duties.'_

The morning rolled by, and James, soon found himself wanting to get out of bed. He gathered all his presents into a pile and started making his way to Gryffindor tower. It was empty in the hallways, as well as the common room, for the last class before lunch had not yet ended. He shuffled his way up the steps to the boys' dormitory. Finding the marauders usual area, he dropped his junk on his bed, and sat down on the edge. James buried his head in his hands. The shock of what had happened, finally bouncing clearly through his mind. '_It's not random anymore…They are going after my family. But why?'_ He blinked backed his emotions as he heard a familiar voice coming up the stairs.

"I wonder if he's back yet?" Peter inquired.

The bedroom door burst open, with three teenaged boys. Spotting his injured friend, Sirius broke out into a big grin. James nodded happily as he was handed a time-table.

"Hmmm, I missed charms and potions. Too bad," he said sarcastically.

"Oh it was amazing James!" Remus joked, "Anyways, how you feeling?"

"I'm feeling sick of that question and you're the first person to ask it."

Sirius laughed and jumped onto James' bed. "What is this interesting pile of goodness?" He asked picking up a chocolate frog.

"Presents from my admirers; I noticed you didn't give me anything, Padfoot."

"My friendship to you is gift enough." Sirius grabbed Lily's letter.

James smiled and shrugged, changing the subject. "I think I'm going to go for a _run_."

"Oooh I'll come!" Sirius said eagerly.

Peter jabbed his elbow sharply into Sirius's side as Remus shook hi head. "No, you can't both skip classes. Besides…" He gave his friend a look that said 'James wants to go alone'. Sirius realized his mistake and laughed it off.

"I know when I'm not wanted. I'm going to lunch."

Peter trotted after Sirius, but Remus hesitated to leave.

"Be careful James. Take a look at the map before you go. It's in my trunk." James nodded and rolled his eyes.

--------------

His thoughts were free, running beside him like the wind on his back; His long elegant legs, picking up speed with every step. He bounded over a fallen log, happiness flooding through his being. As a stag, his senses peaked. Every sound was picked up, magnified by his large ears. Though hues of colour were not quite the same, he could sense small motions, which he might not notice as a human. He slowed his pace, trotting quietly through the forest. Birds chirped loudly, and tiny creatures roamed about. James was finally able to release the tension that had been building in his body and mind. His muscles were sore from the sudden run, but the pain that racked his body was dissipating. He came to a stop near the greenhouses, where familiar voices laughed loudly from within. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were in the middle of a herbology lesson, and James could not resist.

It was hard to clearly see the individuals inside, but he could easily recognize the bright flaming hair of Lily Evans. He trotted slowly over to her window, peering inside. Melody nudged her two friends suddenly and pointed out at him. All three girls smiled happily at the site of a wandering stag. James' heart swelled seeing her smile, not glare, at him for once.

Sirius soon appeared beside the girls, laughing. "I think it fancies you, Miss Evans."

Lily pushed him away, rolling her eyes at his would-be lame joke. Peter laughed and wandered over. He waved a friendly greeting to the stag.

"Hey there J–", Remus slapped a hand across Peter's mouth at the exact same time Sirius bonked him on the head with a fist.

The professor, a gangly man known as Professor Bean, wandered over, not looking pleased. He demanded they get back to work, and James felt that it was time he left.


	6. Ch 6 Simple Revenge

Thanks for the reviews whiskeygurl007 and hermy permy. This chapter is a little longer than the last, but I have to keep you in a little bit of suspense. ;)

* * *

It was nearing one o'clock in the morning and Lily was exhausted. She yawned loudly and stretched her arms. James was walking so far away from her that even if she had wanted to, her arms couldn't reach.

"Maybe you should go to bed Evans." The black-haired boy suggested off-handily.

"No way! Look at what happened last time I left you alone. Besides, it's only an hour."

Lily's green eyes darted nervously towards the boy. He was shuffling, rather than his normal gait, his shoulder slumped in defeat, and his hazel eyes were cast downwards towards the floor. Not even a glimmer of a grin appeared on his face, and his normal, talkative self, had said very little. Lily was almost worried.

"What's wrong with you?" She blurted.

He shrugged.

"Seriously Potter. You're freaking me out."

He glanced up at her, frowning. "It doesn't matter, okay? Let's just do our job and be done with it."

Lily frowned, but didn't say anything. '_This is going to be one long hour…'_

--------------

"God Lily, you look trashed."

"I appreciate that, Kat." Lily groaned as she ate a spoonful of her breakfast cereal.

Never one for staying up late, Lily found a hard time getting up that morning. She glanced down the table and saw that unlike herself, Potter was full of life. He was telling a story to some second year girls, who were hanging off his every word. The other three marauders were joking and having a grand time. Lily snorted, disgusted.

"Someone sure has mood swings."

"What do you mean, Lils?" Mel asked innocently.

"Potter! Last night he was dead to the world, snapping at everything I said. Now look at him, back to being an idiot."

Kat raised one golden eyebrow. "So?"

"So it bugs me! I mean, why would he be such a jerk to me, but not to anyone else? I even wrote him an apology letter! What more does he want?"

"Maybe he was just upset because of what happened, and was taking it out on you?" Melly shrugged.

"Yeah, Lil, don't worry too much about him. Unless of course, you've fallen for him, and are madly jealous by him communicating to those second years."

"Don't make me sick!"

Lily ignored their eye rolls and examined her schedule, for the millionth time. They had potions that morning, and with Slytherins. No one was pleased about this, except oddly enough, James Potter.

"He looks like a kid on Christmas morning." Kat whispered to Lily after James walked by, on his way to class.

Lily nodded. _'He must be up to something. Though I can't say I blame him, I should put a stop to it.'_ Lily marched over to the black-haired teen and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. James grabbed her hand and spun around.

"Why Evans, to what do I owe the honour?"

"Cut the act Potter. I know you're up to something." Lily attempted to tug her hand free, but James held on tightly.

"You really want to know what I'm doing? I'm talking to you."

"Ha ha, you're going to do something to the Slytherins."

"So?"

"So…So you can't!"

"Why?"

"Because you're Head Boy!" She growled, "You have to set an example."

"I'm not going to set an example for being a pussy. I was attacked, Evans. It's called revenge."

"Don't!"

"Why?"

"Because then it will start an all-out war."

"It is war, Lily. Or are your muggle-ears blind? They've been attacking everyone, me included. I can't sit still and watch this happen. I'm going to make their lives hell. No one deserves it more then them."

"But how can you be sure who is a death-eater or not?" Lily questioned, surprised at hearing her first name escape his lips.

"I've told you enough, Evans. If you have a problem with it, go and tattle on me. But I guarantee that no one will be happy about it. Every one wants to see these people suffer as much suffering as they've caused. It's as simple as that."

James dropped her hand and walked away, not even waiting for a response from the dumb-founded Lily. _'He's going to end up getting himself killed.'_ She groaned.

--------------

The class had just settled into theirs seats, and Lily could not help but glance over at James. She wanted to see what he was going to do. Catching his eye, James grinned and winked at her. Flustered, she glanced away, missing the passing glance between her two friends.

Kat scooted closer to Lily and whispered softly into her ear. "You _do_ like him!"

Lily turned and glared at her friend. "I do not."

"Just admit it Lily!" Melly squeaked, a little too loudly.

"Admit what?" A curious Sirius wandered over, parking himself directly in front of them.

"Nothing!" Lily answered a little too quickly.

Sirius cocked his head sideways, and raised one questioning eyebrow to Kat, who was grinning like a fox. Melody, couldn't suppress a giggle, and a knowing grin developed quickly on Sirius' face.

"Oh, miss Evans! With my immaculate female behaviour understanding-ness skills, I have come to a very reasonable-ish deduction."

"That your grammar is horrible?" Kat offered.

"No, well yes, but…Lily Evans has a thing for Prongsie!"

Hearing his name brought up, James turned around and flashed his famous grin at the girls. "I knew you'd come around to my irresistible charms."

"As if!" Lily snorted, Mel rolled her eyes.

"We caught you staring."

Lily's face flushed, "I was just trying to see what prank he was going to pull."

James opened his mouth, about to speak, but the door burst suddenly open. A short man with shiny yellow-toned hair stood in the doorway. He had a thick moustache and an enormous stomach. His name was Horace Slughorn.

"Seventh years!" He grinned as his eyes passed over the class. "Seventh years are some of my most favourite pupils. Ah, Mr. Black, please take a seat." He pointed to Sirius's empty chair. "Oh, and miss Evans! Such a smart girl, you are. I do hope that you will attend my parties again this year."

It was an unofficial club, that Professor Slughorn had started, known as the Slug Club. It was for students whose parents were influential, or if Slughorn felt that the student would one day be a very important person. Although Horace was the head of Slytherins, he held no prejudice against blood-types, allowing for Lily Evans, to be a member of his club.

Lily's face was burning even more brightly now, as the Slytherins leered over at her, knowing their teacher considered her, a mudblood, an elite student. Lily stared towards the back of James's head, as if trying to send him a mental message. _'You were right Potter, Slytherins are scum. Go ahead, have some fun.'_ James, as if hearing her silent request, turned around and winked at her. Approximately three seconds late, a desperate shriek erupted from a Slytherin girl.

A small bat had directly dived and entangled itself into her long black hair. She screamed as it tugged and flapped, clawing to get its way out. Not knowing quite what to do, Proffesor Slughorn tried to stun the bat, however, he put a little too much effort into the spell and accidently knocked the girl unconscious. She collapsed from her chair knocking the large cauldron from her table. Instead of just falling onto the floor unharmed, the cauldron burst into tiny fragments of pewter that seemed to shoot in every direction. Students jumped under their desks, but because the girl had been sitting in the far corner of Slytherin territory, it was only students from their house that the pewter shards made contact with. Screams were heard throughout the Slytherin side, as small slivers embedded themselves deeply into pure-blooded skin. Because it was shards from a cauldron, residues from previous potions, in a cauldron not properly washed, were now buried in victim's. More frightened cries were heard as Severus Snape's arm swelled like a balloon, while the student next to him, Avery, had his right eye grow small blisters, blinding him from the world. It was chaos, and seemingly accidental. Horace Slughorn raced around to each student, panicking with all the injuries.

"Class dismissed!" He finally bellowed, "All of those who are injured, to the hospital wing, all others…just do something useful."

--------------

It wasn't until later that Lily confronted the Head Boy. James, however, was in a hurry, having announced earlier that he would hold quidditch tryout after the day's classes. He was walking towards the main doors with Sirius in tow, when she approached.

"Potter!" He heard his voice being called out.

He grinned, and brought his hand to his air, ruffling it as she ran towards him. _'Now is she going to lecture me, or congratulate me?'_ He wondered, never sure when he screwed up in front of Lily. She stood a head below him, but her fiery temper seemed to make her tower over him.

"How did you do that?" Sounding neither angry nor pleased, just curious.

"Did what?" He played.

"_That!_ In potions!"

"You saw what happened. A bat flew in the girl's hair, and the rest just happened on its own." He winked. "I'll never tell you."

"Potter! Tell me."

"Can't and shan't." Sirius answered, "Now if you excuse us, we're late for quidditch tryouts. Prongso is the captain, so he is required to be there. Ta ta!"

The two boys grinned at the frustrated female, and left a moment later. Dejected at her lack of detective skills, she returned to the Gryffindor common room, where she found only Melody.

"Where is Kat?" Lily inquired.

"You won't believe this. She's trying out for the quidditch team!" Melly giggled. "I bet she just wants to hang with all the boys in the shower room."

Lily laughed, "We should go down to the pitch and cheer her on."

"And maybe James too?"

"Mel!" Lily blanched, "I seriously don't like him that way."

On the way to the pitch, Lily told her best friend her conversation with James. The red-head tried to enforce the idea that she was just trying to find out what he was up to. Melody reluctantly accepted Lily's story. Soon they reached the large field and took a seat in the stands. They watched as countless Gryffindors flew on brooms, attempting to impress the black-haired seventh year, standing on the pitch with a clipboard. Lily and Mel weren't the only ones in the stands. Rival team captains were closely watching, attempting to learn the players' styles, aswell as some first year students, too young to be on the team. Within two hours, the battle was over. Melody and Lily rushed down to great their friend. Kat's hair was frizzed and she had sweat droplets running down her face.

"So, do you think I did okay?" She asked, uncharacteristically self-concious.

Lily, not caring too much about the sport, enthused to Kat that she was the best person, and that if Potter didn't pick her, then he was a bigger git than originally thought. Melly whole-heartedly agreed. They waited for a few minutes as Kat returned to the changing rooms. Suddenly, she ran back out, still in her sweaty practice clothes.

Lily rushed over to her friend, as she noticed the worried expression on Kat's face. "They're fighting! Physically!"

"Who?" Lily asked, surprised that two Gryffindors would engage in a fist fight.

"Sirius and James!"


	7. Ch 7 Teeth

Thanks to my loyal reviewers, whiskeygurl007 and hermy permy! You both rock.:-)

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Remus sat cross-legged on his four-poster bed watching as James poked at his fat, bleeding lip; Sirius sported a hefty black eye and was rubbing his nose, grimacing. _'Idiots…'_ The light-brown haired boy glanced over at Peter who was quietly watching as well. He desperately wanted to know what had set his two best friends against each other. He knew the basic facts, all of Gryffindor did. Professor McGonagall was practically shrieking, when she barged into the common room, dragging the two offenders by their ears. 

"_I don't know what you two were thinking, but this juvenile behaviour ends here. In all my years, I have never seen two Gryffindor friends start attacking each other. And the Head Boy, no less!"_

_Sirius and James couldn't meet each other in the eye. Nor, could they look at the curious crowd gathering. Instead they looked to their feet, full of anger or shame, Remus couldn't tell. _

_Professor McGonagall marched over to Remus, finally letting go of the boys' ears. "Maybe you can knock some sense into these idiots!"_

_Her hurricane of teacher-like anger left the common room as quickly as she came. Remus wandered over to his friends. With a silent nod, they left the gazing crowd, to the privacy of their room._

"I hope we aren't going to sit here in silence all night." Peter offered quietly.

James glanced up for a moment, but shrugged and looked away.

Remus scowled. Out of habit, he glanced over at his calendar. It was a calendar of famous wizarding couples having romantic moonlit nights. James had bought it as a joke for Remus, because almost every picture had a full moon in it. '_Full moon…'_ It was coming up tomorrow, and Remus certainly hoped that his friends would get along. As much guilt as he felt for dragging them into his situation, the nights didn't seem as horrible as they once did. With friends along side him, the excruciating pain he felt, could be distracted. It was a game now, not something to be hated.

Sirius followed Remus's gaze. "I'm still in for it, Moony. Just because this guy is a…"

James looked up, as if daring Sirius to continue. Sirius glared, and went back into sulk-mode. Peter sighed loudly, _'Isn't this going to be a fun night.'_

-----------------------

Breakfast the next morning was an awkward one. Peter and Remus sat between the feuding Marauders, sitting in an uncomfortable silence. Each time Remus would attempt conversation, only one of the two would answer, leaving someone left out. It was better not to say anything. By now the entire school had heard of their fight. Discussing their recent behaviour was much more interesting to the school then the fact that most Slytherins were in the hospital wing. Rumours flew, getting wilder by the second. A curious red head leaned over to her friend and asked, for the umpteenth time what had happened.

Kat sighed, frustrated. "I told you! They were talking then all of the sudden they were fighting. It was the weirdest thing."

"I don't get it. How can best friends like that, just…turn on each other?"

Lily whispered quietly, "What if something like that happens to us?"

"Then let's promise never to stop talking to each other, no matter how mad we are. Always let each other explain, and always, always, trust what each other have to say." Melody smiled at her friends.

It was cheesy, but it was her true thoughts. They agreed to their pact, and then devised a plan.

"Lily, he likes you, so maybe he will open up to you!" Kat grinned maliciously.

Mel nodded, "You can get the dirt on their fight."

Lily groaned, knowing her friends were right. She would ask him that evening when they had to patrol the hallways. She hoped he would be in a better mood than the last time they had to supervise. Lily was not looking forward to it, despite her underlying curiosity. Of course, the day seemed to zoom by, as always when there is something unpleasant to look forward to.

Surprisingly, James seemed to be his normal self. He was telling Lily funny stories that she couldn't help but laugh at.

"Say Potter…" Lily said suddenly, "Um...can I ask you something?"

James hesitated before answering, "Sure. You can always ask, I just might not answer the way you want." He joked, grinning.

Lily smiled nervously. "What happened?" She left the question vague, hoping he would catch her drift.

James stopped walking and stared at Lily. He was silent for so long, that Lily opened her mouth to mumble 'never mind', but James beat her.

"Death eaters killed my dad over the summer."

Lily was stunned. _'Oh my gosh! How horrible! Though, it all makes sense now. First his father was killed, and then he was attacked. No wonder he was so keen for revenge. But what does this have to do with Sirius?'_ James brushed his hair with his hand nervously, as if afraid to continue.

"After quidditch tryouts, I made a comment about…his brother. When I was attacked, it was his cousin Bellatrix who was leading it. I'm pretty sure Regulus was there as well. I said… I said that Sirius's family was trying to kill mine because I was friends with him and I gave him a place to live. I blamed him for everything that happened. It's really stupid I know, but… I think it is partially true."

James looked away from Lily's piercing green eyes. "Who hit who first?"

"Sirius punched me in the jaw, and it escalated from there. Can't blame him, but can't forgive him either."

"Boys are so stupid!" Lily yelled suddenly, tears flooding in her eyes.

James was surprised to see her crying. "Evans? Why are you crying?"

She brushed away a tear with the back of her hand, as more spilled from her now closed eyes. James brought a gentle finger to her face and wiped a loose drop away. Lily backed away at his touch, glaring up at him. She brought her hand in the air and struck him sharply across the face.

"You're an idiot!" She shriek, exasperated, "You can't blame Sirius for what happened. He's one of your best friends, and you're treating him like dirt! He can't help were he was born into. I'm sorry to hear about your dad, but unless Sirius planned it out, you can't blame him! He is too good of a friend to lose."

She was babbling, crying, and feeling like an idiot. Her face flushed at the thought of her showing such girly emotions in front of her nemesis. James was wide-eye with shock, rubbing the side of his face.

"You're hurting more than just Sirius. I've never seen Remus look so worried; And Peter-"

"Shit!" James jumped suddenly, interrupting Lily.

He had almost forgotten about tonight. Remus would be expecting him, and he couldn't let him down. Feud or no feud, he was loyal to Remus and wanted to be there for him.

"I have to go!" James bolted away before Lily could open her mouth.

'_Wow,'_ Lily thought slightly amused, as she wiped the last of her tears away, _'I'm good.'_

---------------------------------

James bolted through the hallways, he figured they would already be making their way down to the whomping willow. It was early still, the sun was just setting. However, Remus always liked to head down early, just in case they were delayed for any reason. '_Like the time in fifth year,'_ James thought to himself as he burst through the front doors of the school. _'Stupid nosy Snape. We haven't pranked him at all since then. He's blackmailing us. That was Sirius' fault then too.' _James slapped his head, '_What am I thinking? Lily is right.'_

If luck was with him, James would make it down to the tree just as Peter had pressed the secret knot, freezing the tree. However, as James dashed around the bend, the tree was wildly waving it's arms. '_Shit! This won't be easy.'_ James slowed as he neared the tree, hoping to avoid being hit. Sensing his presence the tree swung wildly at his head. '_It won't hit me in stag form, but I can't fit through the hole then.'_ The black haired teen crouched and hurried towards the the trunk. A thick twig jumped at his ankles, knocking him to his knees.

"Peter!" James shouted, "Help me!"

James figured the rat boy wouldn't be able to hear his cries. They were probably already in the house, making it too far to hear sound. While he was down on his knees a large branch swooped for him. James rolled sideways, but wasn't able to completely avoid it. It struck him on the edge of his shoulder. Burning pain hissed through James's shoulder, but he ignored it, ducking and running towards the hole. As he dove for the knot, vines wrapped themselves around him, preparing to throw him away. James felt his fingers reach the edge of the knot. He pushed forward and suddenly, the tree froze.

He was tangled in vines, but it wasn't hard to unravel. Soon he was inside, and could hear the faint sounds of a transforming werewolf in the distance. James focused and felt the familiar shifting of his mind and body. He galloped towards the house.

He could hear howling as he approached, and the scuffle of two animals; Sirius and Remus. James ran up the stairs, where he was greeted, by a not too friendly, snarling face. Padfoot jumped on Prongs, knocking the surprised stag sideways. The big black dog bit furiously down on Prongs's hind leg. From instinct, the stag lashed out, kicking the dog directly between the eyes. Sirius whimpered slightly as he backed off. Only to be tackled by a full grown werewolf.

Moony dug his claws deep into the side of the puppy. The beast felt the blood trickle down his claws, and watched with glowing yellow eyes, as the black dog struggled to escape. Sirius managed to scramble away, whimpering. The werewolf seemed to laugh as he lunged forward, preparing to kill his prey. Drool slipped from between his large fangs, as he hunched over, ready to maim. Horns suddenly pushed back the beast, allowing Padfoot to escape to safety under a broken desk; where he would lay until morning, too injured to fend off Moony. Prongs fought hard through the night, defending his injured friend. Morning came slowly, and both creatures grew weaker with the fading moon.

Soon the transformed boy returned to normal. Remus crawled slowly over to Sirius, who was returning to his normal form. Peter was always the last to change back, for they froze the tree on the way out. However, today he turned back into a teenage boy. All three human marauders rushed over to their bleeding friend.

"Sirius, I'm so sorry." Remus apologized immediately.

"Don't be. I was stupid. I was too busy attacking Prongs to notice you coming behind me."

"I deserved it mate." James grimaced, "C'mon let's get you back to Gryffindor. We shan't go see the nurse, though. She will be too suspicious, if both Remus and Sirius go."

As was tradition, Remus would make his way to the hospital wing in the mornings. He was always too exhausted and injured from the night before to attend classes. Transforming into and from a werewolf form drained a person very drastically. As they made their way back into Hogwarts, all covered by the invisibility cloak, a limping James helped a bleeding Sirius cross the grounds.

-------------------------------

Lily always wasn't always a light sleeper. But when she became a prefect, she developed a habit of waking up at the tiniest sound that might indicate a Gryffindor trying to sneak out. Unfortunately, by the time Lily got into the common room, the perpetrators would usually be gone. Sometimes she could swear there was someone in there, but she could never see anything, so would return to bed. Tonight seemed no different. It was nearing four o'clock and she heard some muffled talking, that seemed distressed. Grabbing her robe, she slipped it on and tip toed out of her room. She paused at the top of the stairs, getting a good look at who was involved. She had to suppress a gasp.

A topless Sirius was sprawled across the couch. Long scratch marks covered his upper marks. Several deep-looking round holes in his chest were bleeding badly. James and Peter were hurriedly trying to wrap his wounds. Sirius was cursing loudly at each touch.

"Keep it down Padfoot." Peter chirped glancing at the stairs. Instinctively, Lily ducked down behind the ledge serving as a handrail. They would never tell her what was happening, she would have to find out for herself.

"I didn't see you trying to help me back there, Wormtail. Don't tell me to shut up." Sirius moaned. "Sorry, I bit your leg Prongs."

'_Sorry, I bit your leg?'_ A confused Lily wondered, '_What the heck were these idiots up to?'_

"No harm done. Sorry about…well everything." James shrugged sheepishly, wiggling his right leg to show that it was fine.

"No worries, Prongsie." Sirius winced suddenly as James continued to bandage him. "Dammit! Why did I have to turn my back on a werewolf." Sirius moaned, quieter than before.

Lily had heard enough. Making her way down the stairs, she watched as all three marauders turned white with shock as they spotted the red head casually standing on the bottom step.

"You were fighting against a werewolf?"


	8. Ch 8 Night Terrors

Thank you for reviewing, as always, hermy permy. I should also add, that I like keeping you in suspense. - That way you want to keep reading! Thanks for your comments as well FairiesandDragons911. Hope you guys like this one too. )

* * *

"Shit…" The word seemed to spill out of all three mouths.

"Were you bitten? You need to get to the hospital wing!" Lily demanded furiously.

"NO!" Sirius jumped to his feet and grabbed a surprised Lily by the shoulders. "Sorry Lily, it has to be done."

James hurriedly pulled out his wand, ready to cast a memory charm. Sensing this, Lily pulled out her own wand.

"Expelliarmus!" She shouted at the same time James shouted, "Obliviate!"

The two spells hit in mid-air causing the aim to be off slightly. Neither spell made contact. Without missing a beat, Lily cast her spell again, taking hold of James's wand. She glared at Peter and Sirius, warning them not to attack the Head Girl.

"Tell me what is going on." She spoke forcefully.

Sirius scratched his ear, Peter covered his mouth with both hands, and James looked at the roaring fireplace.

"Potter…Tell me what you morons were doing." She demanded once more.

James grinned, "Okay Evans. One condition…go on a date with me, and I will tell you everything about the Marauders you did and didn't want to hear."

Sirius blanched. "You can't promise that!"

"I wouldn't worry, Sirius." Peter shrugged, "He'll never tell because she'll never date him."

"True, true." Sirius laughed.

Lily did not like being mocked, and she certainly did not wish to go on a date with James Potter.

"How about this…" Lily cooed, "You tell me, or I tell Dumbledore you idiots were off in the forest baiting werewolves. I'm sure that he wouldn't be too pleased about that."

James glanced at Sirius nervously. She had them by their throats. Dumbledore didn't know they were animagus, but he certainly knew about Remus being a werewolf. They had been specifically forbidden to be with him on his nights. They could be expelled.. '_Maybe she's bluffing?'_ James hoped.

"C'mon Evans, one date." He grinned, a glint of fear passed through his hazel eyes.

"You will seriously tell me everything I want to know? With honest answers?"

James hesitated, grimacing as he spoke. "Yes."

"No! No, no!" Sirius jumped in. "Lily, go tell Dumbledore. I'd rather be expelled then having our secrets out!"

"Either way, won't they get out, once Dumbledore knows we are a-"

James tackled Peter onto the couch, silencing his voice. "Yes or no, Evans?"

Lily shook her head, her green eyes staring up at the roof in disbelief. "Fine."

James whooped loudly, but was quickly punched in the gut by Lily. "Keep it down Potter. I don't really want all of Gryffindor seeing me with _you _and _him_." She pointed to the half-naked, partially bandaged Sirius. She dropped James's wand on the floor and turned back towards the stairs, brushing her thick red mane with her fingers.

'_Oh, gross. What have I just agreed to?"_

-------------------------------

'_Please don't say anything. Please don't say anything. Please, oh please, don't say anything.'_

"Uh, Lily, what's wrong with you?" Mel questioned as they sat in their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. "You look like you'd rather be anywhere else but here."

"Oh…um…nothing." She winced, glancing down the table at James. "Er, Sirius and James are friends again."

"That's not surprising." Mel shrugged, as if it was old news. "Where is Remus, though?"

"He is probably visiting his sick mother. You know how it is." Kat shrugged nonchalantly, picking up a copy of the Daily Prophet.

Lily shrugged, not fully listening to their conversation. She was much too worried that James would say something, and embarrass her. Everyone knew her anti-Potter stance, and it would definitely bring about some questions.

"Hey, Evans." James grinned, bending down beside her ear.

"Go away, Potter." Lily's face flushed, much to the curiosity of her friends.

"I just thought I should remind you, about –!"

Lily had picked up a tea biscuit and stuffed it into James's mouth. That didn't stop the marauder however. After taking his time to chew and swallow, he stood back and grinned.

"I wasn't going to do this Evans, but you deserve it now."

"No! Potter!" Lily pleaded, trying to save her self some embarrassment.

James wasn't listening. He jumped onto the large table, accidentally knocking over the sausage platter. Peter scooped the loose sausages into his mouth, while all Gryffindor heads turned towards the teen on the table. Several people from other houses started to point at James, and soon the entire great hall crowd was watching.

"Lily Evans is going out me!" James shouted, oblivious to the death-glare he was recieving.

Sirius whooped loudly, just because, while Professor McGonagall rushed over to James and pulled him off the table, muttering something about dirty feet and germs. Kat's mouth dropped in shock as Lily scrambled, ready to flee from the great hall. Melody grabbed the tomato-faced Lily by the arm.

"Is this true?" she asked excitedly.

"NO! I mean, well kind of…" Lily winced. "It's only one date, and not really even a date. I'm doing it because I want information. He blackmailed me into it! Honest."

Kat shook her head, laughing. "Oh, Lily. If you want information, you beat it out of someone, not date them."

"See you in class." Lily murmured, leaving the great hall.

James laughed with his friends as he watched the head of red he loved so much, storm off.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Kat laughed, "There is no way that girl is going out with you James."

"Now Kitty," Sirius cooed, "Just because you are unwilling to change your ways, doesn't mean all females are that way."

"Besides," Mel added, "It's only one date. It's not like they're getting married. I think she'll live."

"Remind me to ask Evans to marry me the next time I see her!" James grinned winking at Melody. "I'm on a roll! She agreed to date me, who knows, maybe she'll marry me."

The table evolved into laughter, no one noticing the third year Ravenclaw girl rush past, tears streaming down her face with a crumpled letter in her fist.

-------------------------------

"Remus is away again?" Professor Bean shook his head solemly.

The three remaining marauders nodded their heads. Once the lanky man turned back to his demonstration on how to properly handle a fanged germanium, Sirius poked Peter sharply. They were all pointing at a piece of parchment. Lily strained her neck to see over their shoulders, but James glanced back at her and winked.

"On our date, my lady, you shall get the answers you seek."

"Oh, how poetic you are, Progsie." Sirius sang.

"My inspiration comes from you, Padfoot darling."

"Potter, Black, please pay attention. I don't want to see anyone getting bitten today."

Lily rolled her eyes, and returned to taking down the class notes. However, her mind couldn't seem to stop coming back to the marauder's nicknames, Remus's absence, and the werewolf attack. '_I guess I can ask James these things. I would like to figure it out for myself, though. Then I wouldn't have to force myself to date…him. Padfoot, Prongs, Wormtail, Moony…what do they mean? I bet it has to do with what Sirius said. "I'm sorry I bit you on the leg." Curious…'_ Lily's thoughts were quickly interrupted by a sharp jab in her side from Kat.

"Anyone know the answer?" Professor Bean sighed in frustration. "You are a NEWT class. Please keep up on your readings. I would like a one-page report on the proper techniques of handling fanged flowers. You will also need to include in your report, how to distinguish between each species of flower."

The entire class groaned. Teachers seemed to think that piling on the homework would be the best way to prepare the students for an exam that happened to be many months away. '_Maybe with all this homework, I won't have time to go on a date with Potter'_ Lily smiled to herself as she packed up her books.

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Lily woke up stiff. She groaned as she pulled her transfiguration text book from underneath her. _'I fell asleep on the common room couch? What time is it?'_ It was late, that was for sure. There was no one left in the common room and the windows showed only darkness. Lily yawned loudly, stretching her petite arms. Suddenly she heard two familiar voices.

"Hey, I'm going for a run. Wanna come?"

"I don't get why you love running so much. I'd rather sleep."

"Suit yourself."

Lily slumped back onto the couch, pretending to be asleep. James was sneaking out, alone. Lily was determined to stop him, or at least find out where he was going. She had her suspicions that he was up to something. Why else would he go for a run in the middle of the night? Soon, Lily heard the familiar sound of the Fat Lady portrait being shut. She stood up and crept out, following the familiar head of black hair.

Normally, James would have brought his invisibility cloak, but he had checked the map, and the route to outside had been clear. Filch was away in the fourth tower and Mrs. Norris was lurking in the trophy room. The two prefects on hallway watch were currently checking through the library, and the only teacher moving about was Professor Vector, the arithmancy teacher. '_I love being an animagus.'_ He mused to himself happily. '_I can explore the forest freely without being attacked by some monster.'_ Normally James would wait until entering the forest before shifting his appearance. It was merely a safety precaution in case someone happened to be glancing out their window at that exact moment; namely, any Professors.

He crossed the grounds, going a full sprint, his mind too full of thoughts to notice the bright red hair trailing him from a distance. He neared the edge of the forbidden forest, slowing to a walk. He slinked between the trees, happily absorbing the crisp autumn air.

"Potter, stop right there!"

'_Lily?' _James was not in the mood for explaining. He picked up his fast run again, deliberately trying to lose her from his trail. As soon as James was sure he was out of her sight of vision, he changed into stag form, and slipped silently into the bushes. Lily brushed passed in a flurry. '_Where is he going? I have to stop him.'_ She ran forward, not sure of which direction to go. It was much too dark to see anything anymore, so she pulled out her wand. Light flooded in her immediate area, but she found no sign of the boy. Pausing, she listened to the forest. In the distance she could hear some rustling. _'I really hope that is James, otherwise I may be eaten. And it will be his entire fault! Leading me in here like this…_' She pushed her way through the thick brush, to reveal the offender ahead of her.

It wasn't James.

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Tap. Tap. Tap. Melody rolled over, covering her ears with a pillow. '_What is that annoying sound?'_ she groaned, miserably. Defeated by her inability to sleep, she sat up. A dark figure loomed in the window. She jumped in surprise, but quickly realized what it was.

"Rudy?" She mumbled. "Why are you here? And why so late?"

Rushing over the closed window, the dark haired girl did not notice the empty bed beside her. Instead she reached out her hand and slowly slid the window open. A large grey owl stepped onto her chubby arm, a letter was tied to its left foot. The bird was a combined gift to Melody, from Lily and Kat for her fifteenth birthday. She had always wanted an owl of her own, but her parents were muggles and didn't really understand the whole mail system and why she needed one.

Cautiously, Melody untied the string and read the letter.

-------------------------------

Sirius snorted loudly, causing a near-asleep Peter to jump fully awake. It was unusual for him not being able to sleep. However, his mind was plagued with something he could not tell his friends. It was about his friends.

While the others were heading down for lunch, Peter had dashed to the loo. When he came out, he was surrounded by four hooded figures; Slytherins. Their wands were pointed at his chest, and Peter could not move fast enough to get his own. Nervously, he glanced up and down the halls

"_Pettigrew!" One of them cackled. "You are the weak link in the Marauders. You will be our 'in' to the Potter boy."_

"_No way!" Peter had whimpered._

_A blade was drawn. It was no ordinary knife. A wizard's knife was the most deadly knife in the entire world. They were rare, only sold to those who could pay a hefty price. Blood red jewels lined the handle, and the silver curve neck was pressed sharply against Peter's throat._

"_You're not like them Pettigrew. Not brave, noble, smart, or handsome. You have no charisma, nearly a squib. Don't you question why they are friends with you? They are using you Pettigrew."_

"_You can redeem yourself."_

"_In the eyes of our master, you can redeem yourself."_

"_You will no longer be useless. Not a floundering idiot. No. Peter Pettigrew, you can make something of yourself."_

_The words hissed through his mind. He desperately wanted to flee, but they spoke truth; truths that Peter, had always known about himself, but refused to believe. _

"_I won't. He struggled against the blade as it pressed harder against his flesh. A droplet of blood slipped from his neck._

"_We'll kill you, then." The one holding the knife laughed._

_Peter gasped. "No. Please, don't kill me."_

"_We'll kill you if you do not listen. We'll kill you if you tell anyone."_

"_Peter Pettigrew, you will be our rat."_

Peter sobbed quietly into his pillow. He hated betraying his friends, but he had a long life to live. He would be their rat; he would tell them everything they wanted. He would save his own life. It was an ironic twist of fate for him. '_I am a rat.'_ He thought bitterly as he rolled onto his side.


	9. Ch 9 World Divided

Author Notes:

This will probably be my last chapter for the next two weeks. I am going away on vacation, so I will not have computer access. I apologize in advance!

Wow, grannyHPfan, that is quite a review, thank you. Mostly, I don't picture Lily as 'hating' James; she's just in denial, really. I love your image of her character, and I hope I portray her in a some what similar fashion.

Thank you hermy permy! I love getting reviews. ) hinthint to all the non-reviewees out there!

Not the most exciting chapter ever written, but I hope you all enjoy anyways! Now I must go do some laundry.

* * *

Prongs flicked his ears back and forth as he lay in the underbrush of the forest. Lily rushed passed him, not even noticing his presence. _'Human ears can't hear anything.'_ He mused to himself. '_But where is she going?_' He wondered. She was running deeper into the forest. She might get lost, or worse, attacked. There was a reason why the forest was off-limits. Too many strange creatures dwelled in the darkness, lurking, waiting for anything to eat. Prongs would follow. 

Lily parted a thorny bush with her hands, regretting it instantly. She winced but walked further. _'I could swear I thought this is where Potter would be.' _She looked around the clearing, suddenly realizing where she was. Lily was shocked at her own rule-breaking. '_It's not worth it. If James wants to explore the forest at night…well, I'm not going to stop him. First werewolves, now this! Do the marauders even have brains?'_

A large snap caught her attention. It was hard to see in the dark, despite her wand illuminating the clearing. It wasn't until she heard the growling that she started to get afraid. A large wolf type creature was standing before her; eyes as red as her hair, spewing foam from its yellow-fanged teeth. Lily started backing up, fear written across her face. '_Rabies? Whatever it is, I don't want it coming near me.'_ Running would do no good, she thought. It would provoke it into chasing her, attacking her. Standing still was not an option either. From instinct, Lily pointed her wand at the beast. This upset the creature, for it seemed to know what was to come. It rushed forward, faster then Lily could cast a spell. From reflex, she stumbled backwards. Claws outstretched, it pounced. Lily closed her eyes.

The sensation of pain did not reach her. A large deer had jumped in front, saving her life. The deer rammed his antlers into the face of the wolf. It howled in pain, and retaliated quickly. Claws swept across the stag's face, leaving a large gash under its eye. It reared in pain, kicking at the creature with his heavy hooves. It seemed to look at Lily, as if angry for having saved her. The red head didn't need anymore direction. She bolted in the direction she came.

Collapsing on the grass, just on the edge of the forest, Lily tried to catch her breath. '_Never again.'_ She would return to Gryffindor tower, not saying a word to anyone. Assuming of course, she could make it back without being caught.

-------------------------

Lily woke up groggily. Her night time "adventure" had given her much to think about during the night, resulting in a lack of sleep. As she sat up, she noticed the two empty beds in her room. 'They m_ust already be at breakfast.'_ She thought curiously.

Lily sat at her usual spot on the Gryffindor table, across from her sat Kat, and beside her was an empty seat. "Where's Melly?"

Kat shrugged, "She must have gone back to the room to get her stuff."

Lily nodded, "I must have missed her in the hallways."

Lily happily helped herself to a plate of warm waffles. She was a little later then usual, so almost everyone else was finishing up. Out of habit, she glanced down the table to the Marauders. All four of them were whispering quietly. Remus was back, though looking a little more pale then usual. And that's when Lily noticed it; a large cut just underneath James's eye. A sudden realization came to her. '_Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs…'_

Lily stood up, forgetting her plate of breakfast. She stood behind James's chair, capturing the attention of all four teenage boys.

"To what do we owe the pleasure, oh-mighty Head Girl?" James grinned.

"Nice gash _Prongs,_ how did you get it?" Lily smirked. "Oh, wait, let me guess!"

"Excuse me, Lily. I do believe those nicknames are for Marauder use only. Thank you." Sirius interrupted, sounding like a speaker at a department store.

Lily rolled her eyes in frustration. "I'm starting to understand something Potter. I don't _understand_, but I'm starting to fit the pieces together. At this rate, I won't _have_ to go on a date with you."

"You won't have to, you'll want to." He winked suggestively.

Suddenly, Kat rushed over holding her just-delivered copy of the Daily Prophet. "Guys, look!" She pointed to a paragraph on the first page of the newspaper.

**Death Eaters Strike in Muggle Neighbourhoods**

_At approximately 10:30 last night, a series of muggle developments,  
__with links to the wizarding world (ie. magical relatives) were  
__attacked and completely destroyed. It was first reported to the  
__muggle police (the muggles attempt at law enforcement),  
__who arrived on scene just as the ruthless slaughter was beginning.  
__However, these muggles were quickly disposed by the death eaters.  
__Many of the muggle witnesses who reported the events to the police,  
__claimed to see the dark mark floating high above the street before it  
__seemed (to the muggles) to explode. Almost everyone on the scene  
__was killed.The muggles were told it was a gas explosion. No official  
__comments have been made, but there are claims are that the Ministry  
__officials are working hard to capture th eculprits. However, similar to  
__most of the recent attacks, no traces were left behind, leaving an  
__empty trail._

_For more details, turn to B4._

"No way…" Lily whispered, suddenly afraid for her own family.

The Marauders were unnaturally serious as they took turns reading the brief article. James was practically shaking with rage.

"Those bastards!"

All around the great hall, heads were shaking in despair as the news spread. It was one of the worst attacks in a while. '_Will it ever stop?'_ The thoughts seemed to float through everyone's heads. Although, to the Slytherins, they hoped it wouldn't. They cheered amongst each other as if it was the best party in the world. Everyone in the hall glared at the heads at the table, knowing there was little they could do.

Lily slumped down on a seat, next to James. "D-Do you think…Melly?" She asked Kat.

"We should find her."

James glanced at his friends, and then turned to the two girls. "I think I can help. Come with me back to Gryffindor tower, and I can help you find her."

--------------------------

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He tapped the piece of parchment with his wand.

"That's your password?" Lily would have laughed, but under the current circumstances, she couldn't.

James grinned weakly as the school spread out before the girls. Their faces read pure amazement as they realized the complexity of the Marauder's map.

"You guys seriously _made_ this?" Kat said, astonished. "It's amazing!"

"Yep, took five years to find every route and make this beauty." James grinned. "Look. Melody is in the owlery."

Kat stood up to leave, but Lily paused a moment. "Thanks." She whispered, smiling sincerely at the black-haired boy.

James sighed as he watched the two girls leave the common room. He stretched back on the couch staring at the map. He quickly noticed the figure labeled Dumbledore making his way to the great hall. Not wanting to miss an announcement, James rushed off.

James made it just in time, as the silver bearded headmaster made his way to the podium. He sat down beside Remus, and watched as the crowds hushed over, instantly giving Dumbledore the floor.

"It seems to me, that on a morning like today, class would just be unbearable. Therefore, I am canceling today. Take a day off, relax, and refresh your mind. Hang out with your friends, for they are your support in dark times like these." Dumbledore nodded his head solemnly, as though apologizing for the recent events. "Could I please have a discussion with the Head Students now?"

James looked around the great hall, as if expecting someone to stand up and walk over to the podium. Remus elbowed him sharply in the side, and jerked his head forward. '_Right. I'm the Head Boy…'_ People slowly made their way out of the great hall, most likely returning to their houses, or outside. The gloomy mood of the school was mocked by the beautiful sunny day.

"Er…Lily went to go cheer up Melody." James spoke as soon as he reached the old man.

He nodded, "I wanted to discuss with you…"

-------------------------

James sat comfortably on the common room couch. His mind was going through the discussion he just had, slightly in shock. After Dumbledore had lead James to his office, he began a serious conversation.

"_What I am about to tell you, Mr. Potter, is purely confidential. Tell no one. Not your friends, not your girlfriends, no one. I am offering you a membership to an exclusive club. You have every right to deny joining, but should you, I am permitted to clear your memory of our discussion. Is this okay with you?"_

_James stared at the Headmaster, unblinkingly, "Of course."_

_The old man nodded and began his spiel, "The Order of the Phoenix…"_

James smiled happily, not fully aware of the dangers this Order presented to him. He was still gloating over the words Dumbledore spoke on the way to his office.

"_Do you know why I made you Head Boy, James?"_

"_No, sir."_

"_Some faculty members had their doubts about you. Reckless, irresponsible; were just some of the words I heard."_

_James grimaced, "Understandable."_

"_But, you see, James…In a world currently driven by fear, I looked to the strongest students of your year. You are a natural-born leader James. People fall under your command willingly. You are brave and intelligent, and a loyal friend. Miss Evans fits those qualities as well, with an added bonus of keeping you under control." He winked, "Together, you two made the ideal candidates for the Head positions. I hope you do not take your duties lightly."_

James hadn't really cared about being Head Boy, but after Dumbledore's speech, he had no doubt in his mind that he would put forth much more effort. Remus sat down beside him, passing a curious glance at James. Sirius bounded in a moment later, much more forward with his curiosity.

"So what did Dumbledore want to talk to you about?"

"_Should anyone ask what we have been discussing, tell them that I merely wanted you to start planning out days for trips to Hogsmeade."_

James repeated this story, but Remus questioned the reality of it, "You mean to say that after canceling classes because of death eater attacks, he asked to talk to you because he wants you to make trips to Hogsmeade? That doesn't make sense; wouldn't he want you to cancel the trips?"

James shrugged, but Sirius jumped in, "Hey! Make one on Valentines Day!"

"I believe it's on a Wednesday this year, Padfoot." Remus supplied. "Can't make a trip on that day."

"You mean you already checked! Haha, Moony, you sly dog; trying to get ahead of the game this year?" Sirius woofed, gaining a curious glance from a passing first year girl.

A light pink tinge crossed across Remus's face. Changing the subject, he turned to James. "You haven't posted the results of the quidditch tryouts yet."

James jumped to his feet. "You're absolutely right. Padfoot, we have a practice to arrange!"

"You mean I made the team?" Sirius barked, thrilled. "Alright!"

James bolted to his room to grab his the list of his teammates. Sirius followed excitedly, eager to see who else was on the team. Remus laughed, shaking his head.

-------------------------

"Peter Pettigrew…" The voice snapped. "But he's friends with Potter!"

"Exactly!" Another one countered.

Peter shivered. '_How did I end up here?'_ In the middle of a dark room, the pudgy brown-haired boy sat on a stool wearing only his briefs. People were surrounding him, but he could not see them; only hear their voices as they spoke. He recognized the angry speaker. It was Severus Snape. Plenty of times, they had played pranks one the greasy haired Slytherin. '_Now I'm going to be working along side him.'_

"Are you loyal to the Dark Lord?"

'Y-Yes!" Peter squeaked.

"You must prove it, then."

"P-Prove it?" Peter sat wide-eyed. "How?"

"Put your clothes on. There is work to be done." A husky woman's voice supplied. "It will be fun."


	10. Ch 10 Quidditch

Authors note:

So many apologies I must give!! I didn't think university would take up as much time as it did. Thankfully it is now summer (and I passed everything, whoohoo!) so I am able to write and write and write. I intend on completing this story, hopefully. But if not, well... you'll have to read to as far as I get before waiting until the next summer! Lots of love to my readers!

Shortish chapter, but I promise more soon!

* * *

The owlery was not the most pleasant room in the vast surroundings of Hogwarts. The floor, covered with straw, owl dropping and the remains of dead mice did not seem to disgust Melody as it usually did. She sighed heavily as tears dribbled out of her teary blue eyes. Owls hooted loudly, flying in and out of the openings in the roof. The bubbly persona she usually carried seemed to be smothered with darkness. Footsteps of someone rushing quickly caught Melody's attention. Kat rushed forward to her friend, already crying heavily. "Melly..." Lily followed suit, sympathy and honesty worry written in her sad green eyes.

The chubby girl just looked at the two girls who reached forward for an embrace. "Th-they're gone..."

No more was said. Nothing more was needed.

-------------

"Are you excited for tomorrow, Kat?" Melly asked breaking the morning silence of the breakfast table.

"I think I may throw up."

"Oh you'll be spectacular! We all know it." Lily gushed happily.

It had been two weeks since the attack on the muggles. Things seemed to be returning to normal, but the sense of dread lurked in the thoughts of every person. Who would be next? When? Thoughts bounced around, but were countered by the cheery conversations held throughout the day. No one talked about death, it was not appropriate. Lily still had not gone out with James, but he hadn't been pushing the idea either. _'Potter's probably letting things settle for a while.' _Lily mused as she took a passing glance at the boy. The scratch underneath his eye had faded and his grin seemed to once more captivate his peers. Lily wondered what went on in his head, but soon returned focus to Kat. The first quidditch match for Gryffindor was the next night, a friday, and Kat was sitting on jittery nerves.

The girl sighed, "I know I'm awesome but..." She giggled. "You're right, we'll kick ass!"

"That's the Kat I know and love."

A fourth year boy apprehensively approached James, his arm in a sling. As soon as James' hazel eyes landed on the image of the boy his toothy smile instantly turned into a deadly scowl; his jaw dropped.

"No fucking way!" He stood up dangerously. "What the hell did you go breaking your arm before the first match for!"

"Oh no!" Kat groaned.

The kid mumbled something incoherently, and looked away in shame. Slowly, he backed away and left the Great Hall. Lily and Melly glanced at each other, shrugging in confusion, but figured he must be a player. They scooched into seats closer to towards James.

"Where the hell am I supposed to find a keeper, now?" Hands flew up into his black hair in frustration. "Damned luck."

Lily rolled her eyes, thinking it wasn't such a big deal. "C'mon, what about Remus?" She suggested, "You told me that you guys played quidditch over the summer."

Sirius shrugged, "He's decent."

James shook his head, "He may be a decent keeper for two-on-two, but can he guard three rings against three chasers?"

"I can play keeper." Kat offered, "But you'll need to find another chaser then."

"Remus could maybe do that..."

-------------

"No way!"

"Please, we have no one else!"

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"I believe in you Moony!" Sirius added unhelpfully. "I even made a cheer!"

"A cheer...?" James was curious now.

"It goes like this:  
Moony shall be our replacement HERO!  
We shall win two-hundred to ZERO!  
Something something MOONY!  
Their team will commit MUTINY!"

"That's a terrible cheer. Also, moony and mutiny doesn't rhyme." Remus laughed, shaking his head.

"No kidding Sirius, that was horawful. Not just horrific and awful, horawful!"

"Hey, I made it up in two seconds, gimme some credit. Anyways Reemy, we don't have much choice. Please, please, please, pleeeeeease!"

"Fine, just don't ever say that cheer again." The brown haired boy rolled his grey eyes.

Sirius threw his hands into the air, as if expecting a high-five from the two other maurauders. Remus glanced at James and they both walked away, laughing.

"Don't leave me hanging!" Sirius bellowed. "You guys suck."

-------------

The whole team was horribly nervous as they sat in the locker room, dressed in maroon and gold. James was giving a lame pep talk about trying hard no matter what, even if they didn't have their complete and proper team. Remus sat, white-faced on a bench. '_Who am I kidding? I haven't played since summer. This is going to end badly.'_

In the stands, Lily and Melody sat with the remaining marauder Peter was looking especially nervous, shaking almost. "Everything okay Pete?" Lily questioned warm-heartedly, her red hair tied back into braids.

"Uh...yeah, I'm good. Say, I think I forgot something...I'll uh, be back."

"Forgot what? There's nothing you really need for a quidditch match." Melly inquired.

Peter shrugged and left his seat leaving the two girls on their own. "Look there's Kat!" Lily pointed suddenly, but her sweet voice was quickly drowned out by the loud cheering, and booing from Slytherins, as the teams made their way onto the field.

The match began fast, the quaffle being tossed from hand to hand, team to team, bludgers being whacked around, and the seekers, always scouting. Remus was doing a fair job, though on more than one occasion the quaffle was jumbled or fumbled out of his hands. James didn't let his friend down and tried to make up for the weaker player. Sirius was a beater and managed to knock a Ravenclaw girl off her broom.

"Sorry lass!" He cackled as she thudded to the ground.

The score was even, with ten points to each side. Kat was already furious with herself, however, for letting even one goal in. She circled the three hoops furiously as a player approached. He threw, and she dived.

"Ravenclaw Scores Again!" The announcer boomed.

James cringed, they couldn't lose this match. For the past years the Ravenclaw team had been doing poorly, it should have been an easy win. '_Stupid Mark Findley.'_ He groaned to himself as the other team scored again. '_Time to pick this up Gryffindor.'_ James quickly managed to get a hold of the quaffle from Kat and began to dart up the field. Sirius bellowed something indecipherable, but James figured he should duck. A large angry bludger zoomed directly past his head, causing the seventh year boy to take a precautionary roll on his broom.

"CRACK!"

The crowd gasped as the bludger seemingly turned itself around and threw itself into the back of James broom. Justin Feebly, a Ravenclaw chaser, took this opportunity to steal the quaffle. '_Shit, my broom is splintered!'_ It was harder to control now, though not impossible. James sighed in frustration, as Sirius knocked away another approaching bludger.

"Their beaters seem to be after you, mate." He bellowed.

"Odd!"

It was the only word James managed before the rocketing ball slammed into his back. He cursed loudly, barely able to hang onto his broom. He took a dive, and managed to escape the warzone of the bludgers. They were sent whizzing away in the directions the beaters sent them.

Catching a long pass from Remus, James managed to earn Gryffindor some points. He threw his fist up in happiness, but they were still behind in points. They wanted to earn as many as possible to get a higher standing then Hufflepuff who had already won against Slytherin.

The clouds suddenly burst open, showering the players in a heavy rainstorm. It became harder to see, but the teams played on. The voice of the announcer slowly becoming harder to hear as strong winds began to pick up. Having practiced in undesirable conditions, much to the teams dismay, Gryffindor was able to play hard despite the weather. On the other side, Ravenclaw seemed to be struggling. Gryffindor eventually earned back the points, even gaining a lead. However, James' broom was broken, his back was killing him and his glasses were spotted and impossible to see through. '_Please find the snitch soon.'_ the quidditch captain was flying lower towards the ground, hoping to catch a slippery quaffle, fumbled from someone's hands. Suddenly the pain struck him.

Someone was using the Cruciatus Curse on him again. It lasted only for a moment, but it was enough. James slammed down his broom, landing on the ground, panting heavily as the cold water poured down. It had been lifted almost as soon as cast, but his back ached even worse now. He looked up into the unviewable scene, and through the howling wind he heard the sound he had been waiting for.

"Oscar catches the snitch! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

-------------

"Good work Pettigrew," A voice approached from behind.

Peter jumped in surprise, quickly ditching his wand into his robes. He spun around and saw the cloaked figures. Suddenly jittery, and ashamed, he burst in an angry voice, "Why did I have to do this?"

"You know why."

"And now we know. You are one of us."


	11. Ch 11 Boys and Girls

Author's Note:

Heyo, see I'm writing faster! I guess it's due to the fact that I am on holidays with not a whole lot to do. I will try my best, however, to keep spewing out chapters once I return to the real world. Anywhoo, be sure to leave any kind of comment/review. I really appreciate any comments, although if you tell me I'm terrible I would prefer an explanation as to why. -

* * *

The euphoria in the Gryffindor common room was overwhelming. It almost seemed as if they had just won the quidditch cup, not just a single match. Remus happily helped himself to a peppermeat sandwhich and glanced around the room casually. Several students had come up to him, congratulating him on making the team, and Remus had to quickly respond that it was only temporary. He felt their mood instantly lighten. '_Was I that terrible?'_ Remus thought as each one strolled, with more confidence, away. '_Nah, they probably were just way better at tryouts and started comparing themselves to my preformance...I suppose.'_ Always one to look on the brightside, or try at least, the brown-haired teen strolled towards his friends who were currently discussing with Peter about the setup of food. 

"Nicely done, Peter!" Sirius said smiling as he scarfed down his third sandwhich.

"Ah, it was nothing. The house elves are used to preparing lots of food for me." Peter felt terrible, but tried hard not to show it. '_Never again. I will never do that again. I can't...'_

"Oi! Jamesies!" Sirius beckoned the Head Boy over with a wave, "Have I introduced you to...er," he hesistated, "My new girlfriend...um"

James saw the panic in Sirius eyes, realizing that his pal had forgotten the girlfriend's name, he jumped to the rescue.

"Oh hi!" James interrupted Sirius' trailing sentence, sounding unusually bubbly, "I'm James, and you are?"

The short girl had medium-length curled sandy brown hair and bland brown eyes. She smiled flirtatiously as Sirius wrapped an arm around her shoulders and giggled lightly as she extended her long arm forwards.

"Rebecca. Fifth year Hufflepuff."

"Well nice to meet you Becky." The girl scowled at this nickname given by James, about to protest, but then glanced at Sirius and shut her mouth. "Welp folks, I'm going to go try to wrangle me a redhead. Also, I don't think you're allowed to be here." He added, pointing at Rebecca, referring to the fact that they were currently in the Gryffindor common room and she was most certaintly not a Gryffindor.

Both Sirius and James shrugged, knowing niether really cared about rules, but Padfoot offered to leave anyways. Remus took his hint to leave and wandered over towards Kat and Lily. Kat looked furious for just having won a quidditch match. Lily in her red braids, looked annoyed with her friend and seemed to be telling her so.

"Kat, you can't be serious!"

"I don't get it!"

"Something the trouble ladies?" Remus popped into their conversation.

"Don't get me started!" Kat huffed, sitting herself down into an armchair. "Sirius, for starters. I can't believe him. Parading that girl around like she's a trophy."

"She is pretty."

"Not you too." Kat groaned. "What is with males and finding a girl that makes them look better. Can't you just go after someone who has a nice personality?"

"I think Sirius has yet to figure that out, Kat." Lily smiled, "You're not jealous are you?"

"Never!" Her face turned red. "Never..."

_'Who is she trying to convince? Herself or her friends?_' Lily thought to herself, amused. _'Probably both._'

Remus quickly changed the subject to a less, perhaps embarassing, moreso revealing, conversation. He began retelling Kat some of her finest moments during the game, which instantly seemed to distract the firery female. It was at this time, James decided to strike into action. Smoothly he strolled up to Lily and gently tugged on one of her braids. His hand was quickly swatted away, but now he had the girl's attention. He leaned in closer, his mouth near her ear.

"They say that when a boy pulls on a girl's hair, it means that he likes her."

"How profound and juvenile." She rolled her eyes, but couldn't help supressing a smile. She did, however, step back and quickly change into her usual Potter scowl. "What do you want?"

"Tomorrow is Saturday." He offered.

Lily groaned, knowing what was coming. "Fine, let's just get this over with."

He grinned at her, "You're a doll, Evans. Say, fourish?"

She nodded her head briskly, and turned her body to the conversation, as if trying to escape. James let her go towards Melody freely and turned his attention to Peter.

"Say Wormtail, I'm going to the hospital wing. My back is killing me."

"Oh, yeah, right. I'll let anyone know." He squeaked, trying to be helpful, attempting to redeem himself.

Lily watched with her emerald eyes as James slipped through the opening behind the portrait of the fat lady. _'I can't believe I have a date with, ugh, him... I guess we have become better friends, but I have no interest in dating him. I should make that perfectly clear tomorrow.'_ Her thoughts were quickly interuppted by the sad expression written on Melody's face.

"Melly, what's wrong?"

She sighed. "James likes you. You like James, but you deny it to the end of the world. Kat likes Sirius, but denys it to the end of the world. Sirius has a girlfriend. Remus likes Kat. Melody likes Sirius and Remus and James and is willing to not deny. Nobody likes Melody."

"Oh Melly, that's not true!" Lily squealed, "You are a very likeable person. It may not come from a marauder, but I am absolutely positive that you have admirers. Also, Remus likes Kat?!"

"I dunno, maybe not." She smiled once more. "It's hard to tell with boys, but you should try to find out anyways."

"That's our mission." Lily winked.

-------------

James yawned, scratched his arm, and jumped in sudden surprise. He winced in pain, but quickly put on a suave act as soon as he noticed the girl with golden amber eyes and long black hair directly infront of his chest. She was almost as tall as James. A thin pale finger found it's way to James' arm, and gently stroked it.

"Hello James." She spoke suggestively, "You were fabulous out there."

"You are pretty fabulous yourself." He grinned, liking where this conversation was headed.

She smiled, fluttering her eyes, yet managing to stare deeply into his own. She was pretty, that was for sure, but no Lily Evans. _'Lily doesn't want me though...' _His conscience reminded. _'Why not go for it? You were supposed to date other girls.'_

"I'm Chloe."

"Bertie bots beans, Chloe?" He grinned. "Younger sister of Christopher Clearwater?"

"That's the one." She leaned her face towards his and kissed him lightly on the lips.

-------------

Peter yawned loudly. He usually loved sleeping in on Saturday mornings, but just couldn't seem to relax. Tossing and turning all night, he finally had given up. This morning however, the three othe rmarauders were also awake. "Whatcha all doin' awake?" He mumbled.

"Got a day date with...um..."

"Rebecca?" James laughed.

"Right, Rebecca. I really need to write that one down."

"I'm going out with two different girls today." James grinned, as though clearly the champion. He quickly broke out into a story of how he never did make it to the hospital wing. Sirius patted him on the shoulder as if it were a big achievement. Remus scowled.

"Am I the only one who is going to do homework all day? I mean we have a tonne to do. History paper, Herbology paper, Potions lab write-up, Transfiguration research project, and charms for Charms to practice!"

"Later." All three of the other boys responded, Remus rolling his grey eyes to the ceiling.

-------------

Lily stood impatiently by the Gryffindor fireplace. It was several minutes past four. _'You are late Potter. Not a good way to impress a lady.'_ The seventh-year boy quickly dashed up behind her, and she repeated her very thoughts.

"Nah, I said four-ish. '-ish' makes up for any minutes before or after the given hour." He grinned. "Shall we?"

They made their way, once more through the secret passage, to Hogsmeade. Large pumpkins were fitted on the street corners in preparations for Halloween, the following week. It was quite a pretty sight. The leaves were red, brown and golden, and seemed to change colour as Lily walked passed them. The couple went inside of Madame Puddifoot's tea shop and found themselves a booth in the corner. To anyone they looked like any other couple in the shop, in love, but truly it was to divulge the marauders' deepest secret. James had been avoiding the conversation, telling Lily stories that he had perfected over the years. His date stories, he liked to call them. Knowing exactly which ones made girls laugh, disgusted, or apathetic. Lily knew better, however, and wanted to know the truth. Truth about James and his friends.

He swept his hand through his hair and grinned. "Marauding secret numbero one: The Map." He described to Lily how they had gone about making, why they made it, and what it does if you don't say the correct password. She seemed to think it was brilliant and James glowed.

"What I really want to know, Potter, is that one night. You were attacked by a werewolf? Sirius bit your leg? Is Sirius a werewolf? Padfoot...I mean it could make sense then. Oh my god!"

James cringed. "You must never tell anyone. No one! Not Kat, Melody, your shadow. Understood?" She nodded eagerly and James continued. "Remus...Remus..." He felt terrible betraying his friend like that. "Is... Remus is...a werewolf."

Lily gasped slightly, she really had no idea. Always thought there was something peculiar about his mother's sickness, but now the pieces fit together. Lily wasn't sure what to feel. Always had imagined werewolves as terrible people and terrible creatures, but Remus was a sweet heart. She waited for James to continue.

"The three of us were always suspicious of Remus' disappearing acts, so we began to research. We discovered it in about middle of since first year, but we couldn't do anything about it. Very painful process to go through, so Remus ends up in the hospital wing after every transformation. We wanted to support our friend, but there wasn't anything we could do. So we devised a plan. No matter what it took, we would be there for him. So we decided to..." He paused as the waitress plopped a teapot in the center of the table.

"Decided what?"

"To become animagus."

-------------

Remus scowled as his quill scratched onto the paper, no ink flowing through. _'Darn, and I have no more ink.'_ As if hearing his thoughts a bottle appeared before his eyes. "I don't need it."

His grey eyes glanced up, a curly haired blonde stared back at him, "Hey Kat, and thanks." He grinned, "Surprised to see you in the library on a beautiful Saturday."

"I have as much homework as everyone else, I figure why not do it, right?"

They worked in silence for a while, Remus working on his Transfiguration, Kat on Herbology. Eventually curiousity got the better of Remus and he couldn't help but break the comfortable silence.

"So what is your Transfiguration project on? I'm doing it on boggarts since they can change into, well anything. It's quite interesting, the history and everything. I have about six inches so far." Remus began to ramble, but then returned to his original question. "So what topic did you pick?"

She stared at him dead-panned, her brown eyes showing no emotion. "Werewolves."


	12. Ch 12 Revelations

Remus swallowed nervously, unable to make a coherent response. Kat continued to stare, as though expecting something. Finally Remus was able to regain his mind, and his speech.

"Werewolves? That's a very interesting topic. Unlike most other transfigurations, it is actually a more painful transformation from human to beast and vice versa." He blanched, "Or so they say. Boggarts on the other hand..."

He attempted to change the topic but Kat wouldn't have it. "How old were you?" Her voice had a dangerous edge to it, a scowl sketched upon her face.

Remus stared at her quietly. Wondering if he was hated, wondering if she would tell others, wondering, wondering, wondering. "Eight." He said finally, knowing Kat was not one to give up easily. "I was eight." He began to pack up his books, casting his eyes downwards. Kat said nothing. He took one backwards glance at the girl, whom had resumed working on her paper. He dashed out of the library without a second thought. _'Damnit!'_

He ran as fast as he could to the Gryffindor tower, and quickly threw himself onto the common room couch. He felt devastated. _'Now how can I face her and her friends. I imagine James is about to tell Lily something similar, and being a girl she will definately tell her best friends. Damnit! Damnit!' _He couln't even focus back on his homework, instead he decided to go to bed early. Ridiculously early.

-------------------

"Mr. Lupin!" Professor McGonagall huffed, "If you could kindly focus on the lecture, it would be greatly appreciated."

Her shrill voice brought the daydreamers to attention, including Lily. She had been thinking about the weekend, and everything she had learned. It was frightening how much the marauders developed on their own, and what they had already accomplished. '_I never realized they were actually so smart. I thought it was always dumb pranks and goofing off.' _McGonagall continued on with her notes, and Lily couldn't help but drift back into her daydream.

_"Animagus?" Lily spluttered, spilling tea onto the table. "That's not possible."_

_"Oh it's possible."_

_"You need all sort of regulations, and approvals. They never would...the stag? Was that you?"_

_James grinned and pointed his finger, "Bingo." He went on to explain how the werewolf would be less alone and generally less agressive to animals than it would be to humans. Also, less of a chance of hurting himself if focused on other creatures. __"Moony, Prongs, Wormtail, and Padfoot...They're nicknames to our other identities."_

_"So Sirius, Padfoot is..." _

_"A large ferocious, or loveable, black dog. Peter is Wormtail, a rat. We needed someone to freeze the whomping willow..." His conversation lead to so many revelations. The truth about the whomping willow, the shrieking shack, how they spent so long researching and developing into animaguses, and many strange instances over the years. James even told Lily about the prank they played on Severus in fifth year. "That's why we haven't pranked him much since then."_

_Lily was flabbergasted. Apalled, shocked, too many emotions to think. 'Potter has lived a secret life, that only his friends, and now me, have ever known about.' She thought to herself, speechless. Her jaw was dropped open and she quickly gathered her things._

_"It's nearing seven Potter, I want to return." She would not look at the Head Boy in the eyes. _

_James did not say anything, but lead her away. They didn't speak until they returned to Hogwarts grounds, where James apologized._

_"I'm sorry, Lily."_

_"F-for what? You're not going to memory charm me are you?"_

_He smiled weakly, "For overwhelming you, I guess. Maybe, if you'd like I can show you around the forest sometime."_

_She blinked. "James." These words surprised her, having never actually said his name before. "I have to tell you something now. I know you've been after me for some time, and I really do like you as a friend. But I can never like you more than that. I'm sorry."_

_He looked crushed, absolutely horrified. "Yeah." It was all he said before he walked away, leaving Lily swarming with their conversations, and mixed emotions about the whole ordeal._

Kat nudged her side roughly. "I have something to tell you guys afterwards. It's important." She hissed.

Remus looked up at the girls a few rows ahead of him. They were whispering, and it could only mean one thing. _'They are talking about me...'_ He cringed but continued to copy notes. James, who was sititng beside hRemus, couldn't help but stare at the back of the red-headed female. '_I guess we really will never be...'_ His hazel eyes scanned the room, sadly, looking for anything else that might distract his busy mind.

Classes seemed to drag by, but soon Kat had Melody and Lily in their bedroom. They made sure that the other year girls would not be able to hear, by casting a charm on the door. She paused for dramatic effect, a grimace drawn across her face.

"Remus is a werewolf."

"I know." Lily responded as Melody gasped slightly.

"This is terrible." Kat continued, "I can't believe Dumbledore would allow for such a monster to go here."

"It's Remus. He's our friend, not a monster." Lily was dumbfounded by Kat's comments.

"You're okay with a werewolf living amongst us? I think it's a crime! It shouldn't be allowed."

"Werewolves are terrifying creatures." Melly added.

"See, she agrees!"

"No, no, but Remus wouldn't hurt a fly." She added quickly, "I see no reason to turn our backs on him."

"Are you both blind?" The blonde shrieked, "He's a beast, a monster!"

"He's our friend!"

"It's not his fault he was bitten."

"That doesn't change the fact that he kills, maims and destroys. _He_ should be killed; put out of society's misery."

"Do you even realize what you are saying?" Lily shrieked back. "You are telling us you would rather have Remus dead!"

"I would." She snarled. "I can't stand the thought of that _thing_ being around me."

Lily couldn't stand it anymore, so she reached out and slapped the girl across the face. "Don't you ever speak like that ever again!"

Kat stormed out of the room, followed by a furious Lily. Melody was much too upset and stayed behind. Unfortunately, the marauders were sitting around the common room tables, working together on an assignment. Kat rushed forward, eyes filled with hate.

"Beast! Monster!" She hissed at Remus, "You should be put down."

"Bitch!" Sirius stood up, wand ready and a glare sketched across his face.

James was enraged, "You said you wouldn't tell!" He snapped at Lily.

"I didn't, she figured it out on her own."

Remus was hurt, but not overly surprised. People tended to turn their backs on him all the time. It was a reason why he never had a steady girlfriend. He could never tell them the truth. Remus hated lying, but most of all, he hated rejection. Gathering his books, Remus stood in front of Kat. He towered over the girl, but her fire made him feel small.

"Kat, I know you may not like who I am because of my condition, but we were once friends. Perhaps, you can remember that and know that I have never hurt anybody in my time here. Afterall, it took seven years for you to figure it out. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to write a letter to Dumbledore."

Sirius scowled, "I feel the right to smack you across the face."

"She already did that." Kat spoke in a softer tone, referring to Lily. "I'm going downstairs."

So Lily was left with the three remaining marauders. James felt awkward around Lily and quickly announced that he was going to visit his new girlfriend. Sirius figured this was a good idea, and decided to go visit whats-er-name. Peter quickly scampered away to see if Remus was alright, and Lily was on her own. '_New girlfriend...? That was rather fast.' _She thought to herself, her mind drifting away from the events that just occurred.

-------------------

Halloween snuck up fast, and soon Lily found her self at the great feast filled with special holiday foods. She smiled sadly as she spotted Kat sitting at the opposite end of the table with some sixth-year girls. They hadn't talked since the other day. It was quite strange being in a room with someone you ahd known forever but were no longer friends with. James quickly swooped down beside Lily wearing plastic fangs and a cape.

"'Ewwo devishoush." He spoke in a strange voice for the fangs were rather large and speech impairing.

Chloe quickly dashed up and gave Lily a glare before whining in a flirty voice, "Jamesee come sit at my table."

"As vuu vish my wady"

Sirius and Peter joined up with Lily and Melody, each wearing a silly costume. Peter had cut two holes in his sheet to make a poor attempt at a ghost, while Sirius had dressed up a little more elaborately. Face painted green and had two bolts secured to his neck.

"Hey lame faces, how come you guys don't have a costume?"

"Because I'm not seven anymore, Sirius." Lily joked, "How come James' girlfriend who I've never spoken to, hates me?"

"How do you know she hates you?" Peter questioned, slightly muffled by the sheet.

"She gave me the look. The one girls give. You know what I mean. Up and down scan with the eyes followed with either a grimace or a snarl."

"Ah, the look. See Peter, females are a peculiar brand, they hate for no good reason. Well my dearest Lilikins, it's quite obvious. You are Mr. Potter's Evans. You are his dump to his dumpster, the sea to his boat, the sky to his cloud. You are the one he's been chasing forever, so she feels competition against you."

"For once, you actually make sense, although your analogies could use some work."

"I think they're quite brilliant myself."

Rebecca soon strolled up to the Frankenstien look-a-like and waited for him to say something. Perhaps even introduce her.

"Oh Lily, this is...Ronnie."

"Um... Ronnie?" Rebecca questioned, suddenly scowling.

"Short for Veronica?" He guessed.

The girl quickly burst into tears and dashed away. Melody shook her head in mock disgust.

"You ought to break up with that girl if you can't even keep her name straight."

"Yeah, yeah. I think she will anyways. I'll be back kids. Don't do anything I would do."

Lily slumped down in her chair, watching Chloe and James from a distance. He was twirling a long strand of her black hair in his hand and pulled her into a kiss. '_She's not right for him. He needs someone sensible and smart. Not just a pretty face.' _Melody turned to Lily's gaze and grinned knowingly.

"Well if it's any consolation they will have beautiful black-haired babies." She twirled a short piece of her own black hair.

"I don't care."

"You do, and it may not be too late to make things right."

Lily and Melody were tired of all the surrounding drama and decided to ditch the feast early; leaving before dessert was most unheard of by anyone. They made their way down random passages, no real destination in mind. They started talking about everything that had happened and all the recent revelations. Lily avoided certain areas of conversation. Especially involving any Marauders. She was glad to have Melody at her side, but it was a little sad to be missing Kat. A cloaked figure rushed passed them, and Lily whispered to Melody.

"Not a very classy halloween costume."

Both girls quickly realized it hadn't been a costume.

"We if it ain't a couple of mudbloods. What makes you think you are allowed here?"

Lily pointed her wand at the figure. "You might want to be careful. I am the Head Girl." The figure just laughed and prepared to cast a spell, but Lily was faster, "Petrificus Totalus!" The figure immediately froze in the boy-binding spell.

"Let's see who it is..." Melly suggested, ripping back the hood.

"Regulus Black! James was right afterall, scum." They turned to leave, the Slytherin would be left, bound by the spell until someone rescued him. "Oh, and ten points from Slytherin." Lily added cooly.

-------------------

It was Kat who found the spell-bound Slytherin. As she noticed the colours of his robes, she was tempted to keep walking, but his face was familiar to her. '_He has the same nose and jaw of Sirius.' _She paused and stared down into his dark face.

"Don't just bloody stare." He moaned, "Let me free."

Reluctantly, Kat removed the spell with a simple flicker of her willowy wand. Instantly the boy began rubbing his sore shoulders from lying in on spot for so long. "Thanks." He mumbled, practically ashamed for talking to her. "What's your name?"

"Thompson." She responded, knowing what he was after.

"Pureblood then, though I suppose you are a mudblood lover." He sneered.

"Not so much anymore. They'd rather hang out with disgusting excuses for human beings, let alone wizards."

This seemed to bring a smile to his lips. "Regulus Black, nice to meet you..."

"Kat. Call me Kat."


	13. Ch 13 Snowy Surprises

Author's Note:

Sad for me, no new comments. (Hinthint)

* * *

Snow now littered the vast grounds of Hogwarts, but the sky still dropped continual snowflakes all day long. Lily's green eyes wandered over to the snow-covered trees of the forbidden forest. _'I wonder if Potter really would take me through there. It would be exciting.'_ Pulling her gaze away from the window, she returned to staring at the old witch teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. In her peripheral view she saw her ex-friend sitting on the opposite side of the classroom. It had been weeks now since they had last spoke, and Lily no longer missed her. '_She really wasn't the person I thought she was...' _Beside Lily, Sirius yawned loudly. 

"Miss Fletcher, this is boring. Can't we do something more interesting?"

"This is very important material that will most likely be covered on your NEWT exams. They are only seven months away! I suggest you pay close attention." The grey-haired professor returned to her lecture, despite further protests from a certain loud-mouthed teen.

The class ended with a hefty assignment, so most of Ravenclaw and the other Gryffindor students placed the blame on Sirius. He just laughed it off, and added it to the many other homework piles that needed to be done. Like all seventh years, Lily was packed down with homework as well. However, she was quite grateful for a small room given to the Head year students that served as a private study. She could leave her books and notes lying around undisturbed by any other student. Two long marble desks faced each other. It was strange looking across at James as he wrote quickly, flipping through pages. His focus was always so intense. _'I wish I could be like that.'_ The red-head secretly wished. Often they would take breaks together, doing their patrolling duty through the halls, or even sneaking down to the kitchens for a coffee.

"Say, Evans." James said suddenly, early that evening. "We need to plan a Hogsmeade trip. I was thinking this weekend, so that there are still two weeks to Christmas break, and people have a chance to buy gifts. Plus, not too many... _things_ in the news lately." He added in a softer tone.

"Oh, thats a splendid idea." Lily responded.

"So, speaking of Christmas," James began, "I'm not really good at picking out gifts. Would you help me find something for Chloe?"

_'Right, Chloe.' _Lily sighed, "Of course, Potter. I don't really know what she would like though."

"You can just point out things you like when we go into stores. I mean you are female, there must be some common interests."

"You're shopping with me? Where will..." Lily couldn't say the name, "She be?"

"With friends I imagine. She wanted to seperate for when we go to Hogsmeade. Has to buy me something 'pretty'. Her words, not mine."

Lily couldn't help but laugh. It took her a while, but she realized that she no longer despised his company. In fact, she quite enjoyed being around him. _'I guess I am bad at judging people.'_

"Well, if you'll excuse me Lily, I have to go do some astronomy homework with Moony and friends." He grinned knowing she would catch his meaning.

"Be careful," Lily whispered as he left.

----------------------

Students eagerly piled onto the train that Saturday morning, voices filled with shopping excitement. Lily sat with the marauders minus James, since Melly was at Hogwarts sick with the flu. Although insisting on staying home her sick friend, the Head Girl was quickly shoed away and told only to bring back some sweets. At one time, Lily would have detested her current company, but now felt quite comfortable sitting next to Sirius. Remus and Peter sat across from her, Remus looking a tad pale. He was still recovering from the after affects of a full moon.

"I can't believe Prongs would rather sit with that _girl_ than with us. Git."

"I do believe it was you who encouraged him to date other girls." Remus added thoughtfully.

"Shut it Moons! We all know that she's a miserable girl and completely wrong for him."

"I thought she was nice. Kind of annoying, but still nice." Peter countered.

"Hmph." Was Sirius' only response. "So what are you guys getting me for Christmas?"

"Socks."

"Coal."

"Coal."

Remus and Lily burst out laughing having both said the identical thing simultaneously.

"Very funny." Sirius sneered.

The train rolled on, conversations getting stranger by the minute. Soon enough, however, it rolled to a stop at Hogsmeade station. Kids piled out of the train and quickly dashed to the town center, ready for some intense shopping. James once again stopped Lily on her way out and reminded her that they had to check the train. It was their duty.

"This is deja vu." He remarked.

"A little. Only, I won't leave you alone this time." She smiled, picking up a knut.

James soon lead Lily to some less popular shops, hoping to get away from some of the crowds. Every once in a while Lily would pick something up, that Chloe might enjoy as a present. Soon, the Gryffindor girl stopped caring what Chloe might think, and started showing James items she personally wanted. It was a fun trip, spending time with James alone. It wasn't awkward anymore, James had seemingly gotten over the whole "just friends" thing. '_I'm glad we are such good friends now.'_

"That's beautiful!" She said suddenly, pointing to a silver necklace. "You should get her that."

James gently picked it up in his hands. It was simple yet elegant, and shimmered in the light. A shiny silver chain carried a small star pendant lined with crystals around the edge. It was beautiful, and it was something any girl should love.

"You think?" He smiled, and quickly handed it to the cashier, "I'll take this."

---------------------

Peter swung his purchases about happily. His friends were not too hard to shop for; a quick stop to the Quidditch Supply Shop and he was just about set. He figured Remus would want something a little better, so the boy was making his way to the bookstore. A hand grasped his wrist and pulled him into a hidden corner, slamming him against the wall. Peter groaned in pain and dropped his packages onto the snowy ground.

"Just remember that we are always watching you Peter Pettigrew." The voice whispered harshly.

"W-what do you want?"

The person had already left. Picking up his bags with trembling hands, Peter returned to the busy crowd, looking for someone he might be able to protect himself with. The shops were busy, but he didn't see any faces he recognized. A familiar shaped blonde, however, was leaving a shop. _'No, I can't hang out with Kat._' Oddly, she was holding hands with someone who looked like Sirius. _'Sirius and Kat? No, that's not likely.'_ A few hundred meters away, the real Sirius was staring blankly into a store window.

"Oi Sirius!" He yelled, dashing towards his friend.

"Heya, Peter. Got anything for Remus, yet?"

Peter was quickly relieved as Sirius led him away on a gift-finding adventure. Who ever that was, Peter's fear was once more ignited. _'How do I get myself into these situations?'_ He wondered sadly as Sirius questioned him about magic carpets. '_I am afraid, but their side is growing stronger. What is better? Going for what I think is right in the world, or doing what I can to survive?' _He picked up a paperback about venom which was quickly dismissed by Padfoot. '_I want to live. Even if it means betraying everyone I know.'_

_----------------------_

At the end of the long day, students happily collapsed onto the cushiony seats of the train. Packages lined the floor of the compartment where all the Marauders and Lily sat, happily chatting about the upcoming holidays.

"I'll go visit my mum, dad and sister." Lily smiled, "I still will have to buy my sister a more muggle suitable gift, though."

"Hey Prongs." Remus questioned suddenly, "Your family having a Christmas get-together again?"

"We've had one every year, I see no reason not to..." James was sad for a minute, remembering the loss of his dad, but quickly cheered up. "Hey Evans, interested in joining in on the festivities?"

"It's fun." Peter added.

"Um...sure, I guess."

"Great!" Sirius cheered, "It will be the five of us this year!"

"Er, six." James paused, "Chloe's coming too."

"Right. Six of us then." Sirius seemed a little less cheerful about this idea, "Can't wait."

_----------------------_

Melody sniffled and held a kleenex to her nose. _'Stupid flu! Too bad Madame Pomfrey had nothing to help.'_ She lay back on her bed. It wasn't long before the door opened and an excited redhead poked her head through. Kat no longer shared a room with them, having switched to living with some sixth-years. It was nice just the two of them. Lily dropped a small bag of sweets on the end of the bed.

"I brought spicy candies, in hopes it would help clear your sinuses." She remarked as she sat down. "Feeling any better?"

Melody shook her head and listened to Lily's Hogsmeade adventures. When she finished, Melody knew for certain that her friend had fallen for the Head Boy, but decided not to push the matter.

"Come on, let's go down into the common room and join the boys." Lily smiled, grabbing Melody by the hand.

"Alright," she sniffled, "fine."

Remus was stretched out on the long couch, hands supporting his head, while Peter and James occupied two chairs. Sirius chose to sit on the floor by the fireplace. They nodded in acknowledgement to the two seventh-year girls who quickly took place on a maroon loveseat. Two owls suddenly appeared in the Gryffindor common room window and tapped on it lightly with their beaks. Lily jumped up quickly two let the birds out of the snowy weather.

"Ah, Rudy, I hope this mail is more cheerful than the last time you delivered at an odd hour." Melody sad softly removing two rolled pieces of parchment tied to the owl's foot.

"Theo, " James held out his arm as the grand eagle owl perched on his arm, "what have you brought me?" The bird's large orange eyes flickered around the room as James untied the letters. "Nothing for me it seems. Strange considering this is my bird. Here: Remus, Sirius, and Peter. Hmph, why am I left out?"

"One for Melly, the other for Lily." Melody handed her red-headed friend a letter and laughed slightly. "Mail call! Sorry, James." The boy scowled.

"Our exclusive club just doesn't want you. Must be because you're such a git." Sirius joked.

"Hey, don't talk to the Head Boy that way, you idiot. I might take points off for that."

"Like you'd take points off your own house dimwit. Lily might, I know, but you? Never."

"Whattabout Reemy?" James added, "He is a prefect. Geeze Sirius, you should watch out for yourself. All these people to take points away from you."

"Or add!"

"Since when have you earned any house points?" Remus laughed.

"I have!"

Remus shook his head and returned to the task at hand; the sudden abundance of letters. James watched as everyone of his friends read their own. Lily and Remus didn't bat an eyelash, Peter looked petrified, and Melody and Sirius shared a similar expression, confused.

"Seems Dumbledore wants to have a private meeting with me." Sirius said finally, folding the parchment.

The other confirmed that their letter said similar and James just grinned. "Ah, I think I know what this might be, too bad I can't say."

"Mine's on Monday." Peter offered.

"Me too." Said everyone else.


	14. Ch 14 Secrets and Slytherins

Authors Notes: Ugh, travelling is a pain. However, comments! Love for you all!

grannyHPfan: You are absolutely correct and I apologize once more! I'm very grateful that you decided to keep on reading. I know I shouldn't whine, but I can't help it. XD Comments let me know that people are actually reading.

snackadils: I'm posting the chapters as soon as I finish writing them. :) So as quickly as I can.

screamingcrazyproctorlady: Hehe, you definately guessed correctly, and thank you! In my opinion Peter is quite an underdeveloped character. We only ever know him as the bad guy that betrayed Lily and James. Unfortunate, really.

Happy Mother's Day!

* * *

Monday morning rolled around, and it was Lily who had the first meeting. She wasn't afraid, nervous, or anything really. After James' attack Dumbledore had a discussion with her involving duties, family, friends, everything really. Although slightly intimidated by his presence, she felt comfortable telling him her every worry. It seemed to Lily that Dumbledore was a great Headmaster. He listened well and always responded accordingly. However, she was definately not prepared for what was asked of her. 

"A secret organization?"

Of course she had accepted. Dumbledore was a hard man to refuse, not that she wanted to. Although, Dumbledore had stressed the danger that this would bring into her life, but tt gave her a sense of importance, and hope for the struggling world. Lily was late for potions, but Slughorn didn't mind. Afterall, Lily Evans was a star pupil. She choose her seat next to James.

"Dungbombs for breakfast?" She whispered, but did not look him in the eye.

"I knew it!" James paused, "I mean, only for ten licorice." He winked at Lily.

_'This is awesome. Dumbledore is probably going to invite everyone into the Order of the Pheonix. Although it puts another duty on my shoulder. I really am packed down this year. Being a seventh-year is tough enough, now I'm Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, and now a member of the Order.' _James added some bicorn powder to his potion. It turned a murky yellow, instead of the expected deep red. '_Damn it, I need to pay more attention. I don't have time to start over.'_

Lily whispered into his ear quickly, "Add more fluxweed, it won't fix it, but it will help."

"Thanks Evans!"

"No talking class. Remember, this is an individual task." The professor caught James' eye, who nodded and returned to pretending to read his potions prodecure. A flask shattered in the back of the room, the contents of which spilling all over.

"Can't we go one bloody day without you Slytherins causing an accident or breaking something? You are by far the most clumsy class I have ever taught. How you made it into this NEWT class, I will never know."

James grinned.

--------------------

Melody was the third to meet with Dumbledore, and arrived back halfway through Charms. Remus had his meeting during the lunch hour. It was now confirmed amongst the four of them, they were all members. They didn't say anything to the remaining two marauders, just in case they were not invited or did not accept. Peter was next.

He was petrified. '_What does he know about me? Does he know about the quidditch match? Can he read minds? I heard once that he could. Oh no. Oh no!' _He was early, but he was still let into the office. He stared, slightly amused at the whizzing objects around him and the old portraits of old headmasters that were soundly snoring above him. Peter paced the room quietly. On top of one of the highest shelves was the sorting hat. '_I've always wondered why I was put in Gryffindor... I'm not brave, not smart, not witty, not...anything.'_ He stood on his very tippy-toes and attempted to reach the floppy old hat.

It fell to the floor and the teenage boy quickly scooped it up and plopped it on his skull. It was quiet for a few moments, then yawned quietly.

'_Ahhh, once a year a student questions the house I chose. I was wondering who might come by this year. Hmmm, I see. Peter Pettigrew. You were a tough decision, but I picked Gryffindor for a reason.'_

"But, I fit none of Gryffindor characteristics."

'_Peter, you may not believe you are brave, but what I saw in you on that day was something different. It wasn't bravery in the sense that you might save someone's life. It was a different sort. The kind of bravery where you will make hard decisions in your lifetime, but you won't back down from your chosen path. Peter, you are an indenpendant wizard. You would not have thrived in any other house. You needed friends that would help guide you onto this path of independence. Gryffindor had those people and was the right house for you.'_

Peter sighed, not sure if he was at all satisfied with the hat's answer, but figured it was the best he was going to get. Dumbledore stared back at him as he sat behind his desk, a twinkle written in his eye and a small smile underneath his beard.

"It's funny what students pick up when I leave them alone in my office."

Embarassed, Peter quickly replaced the hat on the shelf and sat down. "Sorry, sir."

"Don't apologize, curiousity is the nature of man. I'm just thankful you didn't pick up something more dangerous."

Peter smiled weakly, but the headmaster continued, "Peter, I have a question to ask of you."

--------------------

It was official, they were all in the Order. The first official meeting was to be held on the last thursday night before winter holiday. It wasn't on the friday so that students going home would still have passage available on the train. They were each told that they would have to travel to an unknown location before the meeting began. All six of the teens were eager to see who else had been recruited, but they were not able to discuss anything in public. Instead they turned their discussion to homework, and Lily realized that she still needed to pick up a book from the library.

"I'll be back in a flash!" She mused dashing out of the common room.

The library was on the fifth floor, so it wasn't too long before the Head Girl was lurking amongst the shelves, trying to find a resource on Ministry control of the dark arts for the Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment. It was a dull topic, but Lily wanted to ace every paper this year. She picked up several thick textbooks and made her way to the end of the row.

It was then that she couldn't help noticing Chloe sitting and gabbering with some friends. Lily slinked closer, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. Chloe, who loved to be the center of attention, it seemed, was talking about James. '_I wonder what she really thinks of him.'_

"Of course!" She gushed, answering a question Lily did not hear.

"Oh, I'm like, soooo jealous, Chloe!" A girl giggled annoyingly, "So, like, give us the scoop. What's the famous Potter like?"

"Oh, you know... He's the Quidditch Captain, Head Boy, smart, handsome, and pretty damn good in bed too."

Lily dropped her textbook in surprise, causing the loud giggles to halt; they began whispering instead, afraid that they had just heard the librarian. '_Did she really just say what I think she said? Oh my god!'_ Lily's green eyes were wide with surprise. '_I mean, I guess, it could have...but I would have thought... I wonder...'_ Her mind didn't seem to make any sense, and she felt, oddly enough, hurt by this news. _'He must really like her. Unless he has with a lot of girls. Oh my god!'  
_

The red-head rushed out of the library, leaving the books behind. Her face was pale, and she didn't know where to go. An arm grabbed her wrist suddenly, and pulled her aside. Regaining focus into her world, she looked up at the concerned face of Sirius.

"You okay?"

"I am just..."

"What?"

"Sirius, how many girls have you slept with?"

Sirius looked startled by this question, taken aback by Lily's unusual bluntness. "Um, six. Why?"

"How many has Potter? Remus? Peter?"

"Two, three, zero."

"Three? Six?! Two?!" Lily was shocked, even repulsed by these numbers.

"Well that's including the guy factor."

"Guy factor...?"

"The number you really have, divide it by two and add it to the original number, adding up. Then that's the number you tell people. See Potter's real number would be one. One plus a half rounds up to two. For Remus two plus one is three. For me, four plus two is six. Since zero divided by zero is still zero, Peter is still zero."

"Guys are retarded!" Lily fumed, "Why would you make up a dumb rule like this?"

"It's a guy thing, you wouldn't understand. Speaking of understanding, help me out here, flower, what's with the sudden interest in our sex lives? I mean it's not really standard conversation." He grinned, "Though mine is pretty fabulous."

"That's disgusting." She barked, but it quickly turned into a sigh. Lily quickly broke out into her eavesdropping and Sirius just nodded.

"That's the one." He paused for a moment. "I don't like her. She's all wrong for James. I mean I'm not so good at picking out girls for myself, but I can tell when other people don't belong together. They don't."

"Remus has with two girls?" She said suddenly, unable to picture it, not that she wanted to imagine...that.

"What can I say, he's quite the sly dog that one. More of a ladies man than you'd think. Actually, it's more cause he generally cares quite a lot about his girlfriends when he has them, whereas I...well, nevermind."

"Boys are dumb." Lily huffed, turning around. "I'm going to go get my books."

Sirius grinned as he watched the girl storm off towards the library. _'Prongs was right to chase after her all these years. She has something that most girls don't.' _He shook his head, '_I need to find more girls like her; smart and pretty.' _Shrugging to no one, Sirius continued towards his original destination, the kitchen.

Lily quickly returned to the library and began to wander slowly through the shelves. The group of girls were gone, but a different figure was standing where she was headed. Severus Snape was picking up all the books from the small study table that Lily had left them on in her hurried exit. _'I need those!'_ She fumed, marching over to him at a much quicker gait.

"Those are my books. I just had to get something, but now I'm back."

"I don't see your name on them." The pale-faced boy sneered.

"Honestly, I just picked them out. I need them for Denfense Against the Dark Arts."

"So do I."

"Okay, fine. How about I take half, and you take half, then we can switch."

"Why should I compromise with you? No, I will take them all."

"Severus, please!" Lily was furious.

He paused and thought for a moment, as though actually considering giving her the books. A female voice broke his thought as he spotted Bellatrix Black and her younger sister Narcissa standing at the end of the row, impatiently waiting on him. He turned his gaze back to the Head Girl.

"Get out of my way, mudblood. I have books to sign out."

Quickly Severus dashed up to the two females. "You better watch out for yourself, Evans." Bella laughed, "Or you'll be next."

Lily scowled, holding back her tongue as the three Slytherins made their way towards the exit. '_Now what'll I do. I need some material. I picked out all the best.'_ She slumped into the small chair. A single book remain on the desk. _'Did he forget it? Or did Severus mean to leave it here? Either way, at least I have something.' _She picked up the remaining book and made her way towards the line up of students waiting to check out their selections.

_'What a weird day.'_


	15. Ch 15 The Pheonix

Author's Notes:

So I started working now, so updates will be a little slower, but I promise that they will still exist! I've also become addicted to some webcomics recently. Oh the humour.

Thank you for the reviews! I always appreciate any comments!

* * *

It was thursday afternoon, and the marauders were practically squirming in their seats. How would they know where to go? What would this meeting entail? They all desperately wanted to know. James nudged Sirius gently in the arm, as they caught Professor Bean's threatening glare. The boys quickly returned to their potted plants; two red sprouts poked through the black soil. 

James sighed. '_This class is taking forever. Surely it must be over by now.' _Unfortunately, there were still forty minutes before the Gryffindors were able to leave the warm greenhouses into the crisp winter air. The Head Boy spotted the familiar red hair a few paces ahead of him, and jumped forward to land beside her. She was slightly startled, but then laughed at James' odd behaivour.

"Excited, Evans?"

"For what?" She gave him a knowing look and rolled her eyes before responding. "More nervous than anything."

James nodded. _'Dumbledore must have given a similar speech to Lily. So much time spent impressing on the idea of danger and death, I can't blame her for being nervous. I can't say I am nervous much, the idea of vengence on Death Eaters is something I would love to be a part of...'_

"Yeah, I am a bit too."

"Shhh, they'll hear you." Melody's voice caught the attention of both Lily and James. A pink tinge spread across the black-haired girl's cheeks, realizing she had been the one to get noticed. She was standing with the remaining marauders, standing suscpiciously close together.

"We weren't talking about you!" Peter insisted.

"Well, there goes that." Remus shook his head. "No one would ever believe that, Wormatail. It's obvious now that we were."

"Nothing, bad though." Sirius tried to help.

James looked at Lily with questionable eyebrows, who was glaring at the group. '_For once she's not glaring at me. I'm the good guy in this situation. I wonder if last night I travelled into a parallel universe where Lily is chasing me. Wait, no! That would mean I would not want to date Lily. Or maybe, I am in the parallel universe and since I do want to date Lily, it means that she actually wants to date me in the real universe. So , how do I get back there?'_

_"_Whatever your little scheme is, I'm not falling for it." She glared. "Melly, I can't believe you are plotting against me!"

"It's for your own good, really." Sirius defended.

"Speaking of my own good," James interupted, "I'm starving, let's go grab some dinner."

"We weren't talking about your own good Jamsies, but I accept your food suggestion. Tally ho!" Sirius bounded forward towards the castle doors.

"C'mon, Evans" James grabbed the girl by the hand and pulled her forward. She looked a little surprised but let James continue to pull her arm.

"I don't think they even realize how cute they look together." Melody sighed.

The group of teens quickly made their way out of the cold into the Great Hall where dinner was just being served. They sat down in their usual spots at Gryffindor table. A large man with a very bushy beard was dragging in large pine trees and placing them around the walls of the Great Hall. Some Professors were helping out by decorating the trees; using their wands, of course.

"It's looking really festive in here." Lily sighed happily. "And tomorrow we get to go home."

James nodded in agreement, but stared towards the ceiling, hoping for a sign in the form of an owl. His neck was getting sore, but he couldn't help but look. He didn't notice Professor McGonagall approach from behind.

"Mr. Potter, may I have a word with you about your Transfiguration Project." It wasn't a question.

James cringed, now was not a good time. "Well, you see Professor..."

"Now, Potter!" It was the tone of voice which meant she was not to be argued with.

Grudgingly, James rose to his feet and followed the elderly witch out of the Great Hall. She began discussing his choice of topic, and James just nodded in agreement, not truely listening to her words. Once in her office, she began rummaging through all her papers. _'Oh joy, now she can point out all the flaws word by word.'_

_"_There was nothing wrong with your assignment. In fact, I gave you an A." She said suddenly, finally capturing the boy's attention. "Hold onto this." She said, handing him a quill.

He stared at it blankly and felt her eyes watching him intently. "Okay...?" He grabbed hold and instantly felt pulled towards it, as if a hook were pulling him. The world began to spin and the colours blurred into something undescribable. He fell to the floor with a thud.

A voice standing above him cackled, "Not the smoothest landing I've ever seen."

"A-a portkey?" He mumbled, picking himself up and looking around the room. It was a large room, like a gymnasium or something; however there were no doors or windows. Witches and wizards were standing around chatting amongst each other. Or so he assumed they were magical-folk, though most were wearing muggle clothing. He looked towards the person who had spoken to him.

"Benjy Fenwick." The man held out his hand for a shake. He had several years on James, probably in his mid-twenties. He had long curly black hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and a hint of a moustache.

"James Potter." He grinned.

"Ah, I'm sorry about your father." Benjy mumbled, "That is one of the problems of the Order."

"Wait, my dad was a member?"

"Your mum too. She's right over there."

James dashed towards the familiar face, "Mum?"

Noticing her son, Mrs. Potter rushed forward and pulled him into a hug. He tried to squirm away, slightly embarassed at the first impression that was being made. _'Now I'll be known as the Potter's kid or the Potter boy.'_ He was however, happy to see his parent. She was looking a a little more gaunt than usual, but James didn't mention anything.

"So, all this time "Important Ministry business" was actually...this?"

The grey-haired witch nodded sadly, "I'm sorry we couldn't tell you."

_'It makes a little more sense now why my family is a target.'_ Wizards were appearing by the second now and the room was quite full. He spotted the familiar faces of his friends and waved them over. Mrs. Potter already knew all the marauders, but James introduced her to Melody and Lily.

"Oh, the famous Lily Evans." She mused, winking at James.

"Mum, please." He groaned.

Professor McGonagall wandered over to the group with a hint of a smile on her face. Dumbledore walked along beside her, smiling happily at the sight of newly recruited students.

"Couldn't you have given me a warning, Professor?" James whined rubbing his backside.

"I had a point to make."

"To no longer trust my Professors?" He joked.

"Precisely." She nodded, amused at James' confused face. "You see James, and the rest of you lot, in this world you don't know if you can trust anyone. You shouldn't trust anyone and always assume the worst of someone when you meet them. It is very likely that there are people in this room working against us, and very likely that it could be someone close to you." She paused to let the words sink in, "You do trust your friends, and that could very well be a fatal flaw. It is why, at these meetings, we do not reveal everything that goes happens."

"Now, don't go turning your backs on each other though," Dumbledore added with a smile, "Friends are very important in dark times. Now, I think I will get this meeting started. Oh, before I do, I just wanted to mention that nothing is expected from you until you graduate. You will come to meetings, but on an observational basis only. Please take a seat everyone."

The Headmaster gestured towards a large table which hadn't been there previously. Once sitting, the room felt a lot emptier, and it seemed that there were fewer wizards then when everyone was mingling amongst each other.

"I'd like to start our meeting, as usual, for a moment of silence for those that we've lost." Dumbledore bowed his head, and everyone followed suit. A minute or two later, he continued on, "I'd like to point out some new members of the Oder of the Pheonix: James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black," The crowd broke out into whispers at hearing the name Black.

"Great, they'll never trust me." Sirius whispered into James' ear.

"They wouldn't anyways. Remember what McGonagall said."

"Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans, and Melody Abbott." Dumbledore finished. "I hope that at some point you would introduce yourself and possibly give them a word of advice. Now, Elphais if you'll start..."

An old wizard with a silly looking hat on top of his matted silver hair began to speak about his recent 'discoveries' in a wheezy voice. It wasn't glamorous work by any means. As the night went on, and various wizards spoke about what they discovered, who they discovered, James began to realize that it would be a long process before any action was taken. They deliberated on the most minor details, things that most people would not concern themselves with. Finally, the meeting came to an end.

James yawned and stretched loudly. '_I wonder how we get back now?'_ Various wizards began to apparate away. A young boy and girl, hardly older than James approached the group of teens. James recognized their faces instantly.

"Alice, Frank." He said in greeting. "How's life after school?"

They were a year older than the group, having graduated the previous year. Both were in Gryffindor, thus already knew everyone's name. Frank was slightly taller than James and had shaggy brown hair. Alice, on the other hand, was much shorter with a very round face, made especially noticeable by the fact that her blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. She smiled from ear to ear.

"We're getting married!"

"Congrats!" Lily said instantly, "Though I can't say I'm surprised."

"I'm going to be a Mrs. Longbottom." She giggled, poking Frank in the ribs, "Unfortunate that your last name wasn't Nicebottom instead."

"Better than being a Black." Sirius grumbled uncharacteristically.

"Aw, cheer up mate." Frank said shrugging, "Can't help who your parents are."

"So, uh, how do we get back to Hogwarts?" Lily was looking around the drastically empty room. Even Mrs. Potter had vanished without so much as a good-bye.

"That's why we came over. Since we were the newbies last year, we'll help you out this year, then you can help out the new students next year." Alice gestured the group over and pointed at a thin line on the wall. "Incendio."

A small jet of flame shot out of her wand. Instantly a whole square of the wall seemed to burst into flame. Slowly it formed into a more familiar shape; a fireplace. Frank pulled out a small silver flask from an inner pocket and handed it to Remus, who was standing closest.

"Floo powder. Bring some with you next time." He grinned.

--------------

They collapsed themselves on the common room couches. It was past midnight, so fortunately no one else was awake. Sirius yawned loudly and curled up into a ball on the marron couch.

"I don't want to move. So sleepy."

"Oh you've stayed up later than this, I'm sure Sirius." Lily smirked.

"Yes but anticipation of something makes me sleepy by the end of the day. For example, tomorrow is last day before holidays. Because I am not returning home, but to Prongsies house, I will also be tired by the end of the day."

"Oh yeah, Melly, I meant to ask." James started, "Did you want to come to my family's Christmas party also?"

"I can't. It'd be a little hard to explain to my Aunt and Uncle why I would be crawling into or out of their fireplace. In fact, I'm not even sure they have a fireplace. I haven't been there since..." Her thought trailed off sadly. It would be the first time ever, that she did not go home to her parents for the holidays.

"That's too bad." Lily said softly.

"Yeah, it would have been fun with the six of us!" Sirius grinned.

"Seven." Remus corrected.

"No, there is six of us. Four boys, two girls." He pointed at everyone in the room. "How delightfully dirty. You girls get your pick of two boys for the taking!"

"No thanks." Both Lily and Melody answered.

"It would have made seven, Padfoot. Remember that Chloe's coming."

"Damn that girl!"

"What?"

"She's not right for you mate."

"Sirius, I've hated a heck of a lot of girls you've been with, but I haven't _ever_ said anything. So frankly, it's none of your damned business." James stood up, "Going to bed."

"Wow, he was really mad." Melly whispered in Lily's ear.

"That must mean he must like her quite a bit then." The red-head said gloomily.


End file.
